Mosty Brothers Nursery
Center Point, Kerr County, Texas
Marker Inscription
MOSTY BROTHERS NURSERY A son of Belgian immigrants, Leander A. Mosty worked as a cattle driver and broker in Kansas before migrating to Kerr County in 1897. Sensing a market for fruit and pecan trees in the sparsely treed area, Mosty and his wife, Elizabeth (Bean), a Lampasas native, moved their family to a tract along the Guadalupe River, where the Kerrville orchards and nursery, later known as Mosty Brothers Nursery, began in 1898. After being certified by the state of Texas in 1907, the nursery expanded to center point the next year. Along with several ornamental shrubs, Mosty developed new varieties of cling peach, freestone peach, and pecan trees, all of which bear the Mosty name. After his death in 1917, Mosty’s sons Lee and Harvey turned the business into one of the largest wholesale nurseries in the southwest with one of the region’s largest greenhouses. In 1927, Lee Mosty built his family an eight-room house in the center point property’s pecan orchard. In the 1930s, Lee and Harvey helped organize the Texas association of nurserymen. They also provided native plants to landscape the Texas centennial central exposition grounds, now the Texas State Fair Grounds, in Dallas. After Lee’s death in 1964, his sons Robert Lee, Raymond, and C.H. (Scott) continued to develop their business and support the Texas horticulture industry. The Kerrville nursery closed in 1985, but Mosty family descendants, now in the fifth generation, continue to operate the center point location. One of the community’s iconic businesses since 1908, the nursery continues to contribute to the economy and culture of center point. (2014)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The son of Belgian immigrants, Leander A. Mosty came to sparsely treed Kerr County in the 1890s and bet that Hill Country settlers would want fruit and pecan trees. From an 1898 orchard along the Guadalupe River his family built one of the Southwest's largest wholesale nurseries, breeding cling and freestone peaches and pecans that still bear the Mosty name. His sons helped organize the Texas nurserymen's association and supplied plants for the 1936 Texas Centennial grounds in Dallas.
Why it matters
It captures how immigrant families quietly shaped Texas agriculture and landscape, turning a treeless frontier county into a lasting horticultural enterprise now in its fifth generation.
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Related people
- · Leander A. Mosty
- · Elizabeth Bean Mosty
Themes & tags
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