On This Site Stood for a Century an Old Stone House
Nacogdoches, Nacogdoches County, Texas
Marker Inscription
On this site stood for a century an old stone house thought to have been built in 1779 by Antonio Gil YBarbo. Sold by him as community property in 1805. Headquarters in 1806 for William Barr and Samuel Davenport, Indian traders. It served as trading post, store, warehouse, town hall, fort, barracks, church, tavern, and saloon before being torn down in 1902 by W. W. and Charles Perkins, last owners. Reconstructed in 1936 on the campus of Stephen F. Austin State Teachers College. This Site Marked by the State of Texas 1936
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
For roughly a century a stone house stood on this Nacogdoches site, thought to have been built about 1779 by town founder Antonio Gil Ybarbo and sold by him in 1805. It later served as headquarters for Indian traders William Barr and Samuel Davenport and, over its long life, did duty as trading post, warehouse, town hall, fort, barracks, church, tavern, and saloon before being demolished in 1902. A reconstruction rose in 1936 on the college campus.
Why it matters
The "Old Stone Fort" was a hub of Spanish-colonial and early frontier Nacogdoches, its many uses tracing the town's evolution across the shifting sovereignties of the borderlands.
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Related people
- · Antonio Gil Ybarbo
- · William Barr
- · Samuel Davenport
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Site of "Old Soledad"
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Before 1800, this spot was known across East Texas as "Old Soledad," the headquarters of William Barr and Samuel Davenport, licensed traders who did business with the region's Native nations. In the Spanish borderlands, such traders were the crucial go-betweens, exchanging manufactured goods for hides and deerskins and knitting frontier economies together. A 1936 state marker fixes the site's place in that vanished world.
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