Texas Historical Commission staff (BB), 8/5/2013, rev 9/23/13, 11/12/13 27 x 42 Official Texas Historical Marker with post Brewster County (Job #13BS01) Subject (Atlas 17696) UTM: 13 668898E 3343090N Location: Marathon, North Avenue D ALBION E. SHEPARD HOUSE IN 1883, COMPLETION OCCURRED OF THE EXTENSION OF TRACKS BY THE GALVESTON, HARRISBURG AND SAN ANTONIO RAILWAY (G.H. & S.A. RY.) LINE LOCATED BETWEEN EL PASO AND SAN ANTONIO. RETIRED SEA CAPTAIN ALBION E. SHEPARD ARRIVED IN THE REGION AS A RAILROAD SURVEYOR. HE ACQUIRED MUCH LAND IN THE AREA, INCLUDING SECTION 18, BLOCK 4 OF THE G.H. & S.A. RAILWAY SURVEY. TRADITION DOCUMENTS THE NAMING OF MARATHON TO CAPT. SHEPARD S OBSERVATIONS OF THE SIMILARITY OF THE VALLEY AND ITS ENCIRCLING HILLS TO MARATHON, GREECE, WHERE THE MOUNTAINS MEET THE WATERS OF THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA. AT THIS SITE, CAPTAIN SHEPARD APPLIED FOR A POST OFFICE IN SEPTEMBER 1882 WHERE HE BECAME THE FIRST POSTMASTER. HE DEEDED SECTION 18 TO HIS SON BEN SHEPARD FOR THE CREATION OF THE MARATHON TOWNSITE ON DECEMBER 6, 1885 ON AN EXISTING SIDING OF THE RAILROAD. CAPTAIN SHEPARD ESTABLISHED IRON MOUNTAIN RANCH ON 58 SECTIONS OF RANCHLAND BOUGHT FROM F. W. FOLTS ON MARCH 10, 1882, LOCATED IN THE GLASS MOUNTAINS ALONG THE NORTH LINE OF THE MARATHON BASIN. THE RANCH WAS STOCKED WITH AS MANY AS 25,000 SHEEP, MANAGED BY HERDERS WITH NO FENCES. PRIOR TO 1887, SHEPARD BUILT A LARGE TWO- STORY ADOBE HOME FACING MARATHON S PUBLIC SQUARE LOCATED AT NORTH AVENUE D AND NORTH 2ND STREET. THE SQUARE-PLAN COLONIAL REVIVAL HOME CONTAINS FOUR LARGE ROOMS ON EACH FLOOR AND FEATURES A HIPPED ROOF AND FULL-LENGTH DOUBLE GALLERY WITH SQUARE PORCH SUPPORTS. AN ORIGINAL CARRIAGE HOUSE IS ALSO PART OF THE HISTORIC HOMESTEAD. ADOBE BLOCKS WERE MADE LOCALLY, WHILE LUMBER AND FURNISHINGS WERE DELIVERED BY RAIL. THE HOUSE WAS LATER ACQUIRED BY THE HESS FAMILY, OWNERS OF A MERCANTILE AND HARDWARE STORE AND RANCHING NEIGHBORS OF SHEPARD. THE HOUSE, WHICH REMAINED IN THE HESS FAMILY UNTIL THE 1980s, EVOKES THE RANCHING AND CIVIC CONTRIBUTIONS OF PIONEER SETTLERS OF THE COMMUNITY. RECORDED TEXAS HISTORIC LANDMARK 2013 MARKER IS PROPERTY OF THE STATE OF TEXAS
I. CONTEXT Captain Shepard s Inn The original Captain Shepard home is now known as the Captain Shepard s Inn in Marathon, Texas. It is operated as a part of the historic Gage Hotel, located in Marathon, Brewster County, Texas. These facilities serve as a historic center serving the people visiting in the region. The early ranch life, the mining activities, the early military activities and settlement styles of the region are preserved. Dining, entertainment, meeting spaces with conference rooms, and sleeping rooms all have been incorporated into a historic building and is preserved as a building complex. The Captain Sheppard s Inn is a vital part of the historic region, known as the Last Frontier. II. OVERVIEW Albion E. Shepard The originator and naming of Marathon, Texas The first town site was surveyed in 1881 when the G. H. & S. A. Railroad route was surveyed through the area where the present town of Marathon developed. Captain A. E. Shepard, a pioneer settler and retired sea captain arrived in the region as a surveyor in the early 1880 s. He was a land surveyor working on the layout of the proposed railroad being constructed from El Paso to the west to join with the extension of the rails from San Antonio to the east. His knowledge of the location of the proposed rail route resulted in his acquisition of several sections of railroad land, including Section 18 Block 4, GH & SA Railway Survey. His decision to create a town came from a dream that resulted from his travels over the high seas including, the region where Marathon, Greece is located. The name of the rail siding was first designated as Marathon by Shepard serving as one of the railroad surveyors selecting the location to build the rail line. He said he chose the name because it reminded him of Marathon, Greece. The similarity of the valley and its circling hills were, he said, almost identical to that of Marathon, Greece, where the mountains came down to the waters of the Mediterranean Sea. The romance of it is that it brings to mind the great battle which will always live in history. Tis said that Captain Shepard traded his old ship for his land in Presidio County (now Brewster County as of February 2, 1887) sight unseen. Albion Shepard had ideas for the use of his properties including the creation of a town. He made application for a post office in September 1882, to be located near the rail station named 1
Marathon. He became the first post master. In December 1885, Albion Shepard deeded Section 18 to his son Ben Shepard for the creation of a town site of Marathon in consideration of the sum of five dollars. The deed to Ben was recorded in Volume 1, Page 316, Buchel County, prior to the area being in Brewster County. It was not till April 30, 1886, that the plat of Marathon was drawn by Otto Peterles of San Antonio, Texas. The first map is dated March 16, 1886, signed by Frank Aston, Surveyor. This plan was first recorded in Presidio County s Deed Records, Book 6, page 620, April 30, 1886. The Plat was first recorded in Volume 1, Page 98 of the Brewster County Deed Records. The first lot was sold to Otto Peterles for $50.00 on March 25, 1886. This lot was Lot 1, Block 15 of the original town site and is now occupied by the Gage Hotel. He also bought fifty-eight sections of land from F. W. Folts, March 10, 1882. Mr. Folts had bought this land from the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway Company. Captain Shepard made this land into a ranch, the original Iron Mountain Ranch located in the Glass Mountains along the north line of the Marathon Basin. He always told people that he had traded two ships which he had on Lake Michigan for the ranch. The trade was probably a little indirect, for records show that he paid $6,560 in cash and gave two promissory notes of $6,000, to be paid later. This ranch area became known as the Iron Mountain Ranch and still goes by that name. The ranch was first stocked with as many as 25,000 sheep, managed by herders with no fences. The property was acquired by the Skinners, followed by the West-Pyle Cattle Company. That ownership was transferred to William Blakemore and has been stocked with cattle for the past one hundred plus years. Prior to 1890, Shepard had built a large two story adobe home, located in Block 10 on lots 9, 10, 11, 12 and 13 of the Original Addition of Marathon. There was a carriage house placed adjacent to the structure. The location of this home is one block north of the original railroad line constructed by the GH & SA RY Co (Southern Pacific) in 1882. The building faces the public square on North Avenue D to the east with North Second Street on the South. The adobe blocks used to build the house were made from local soil and other materials with lumber and furnishings delivered by rail from San Antonio and other places. The architect is unknown. The building improvements known as the original Shepard home were acquired by the Hess Family, early settlers in the Marathon area around 1900. They owned the local mercantile and hardware store and a large ranch nearby. The Hess s were from San Antonio and a neighbor to Shepard s Iron Mountain Ranch. Their ownership of the home building continued until around 1985. The next owner was the Andrew Kurie family, followed by Russ Tidwell, who operated 2
the unit as the Captain Shepard s Inn beginning in March 1995 until May 2012, when the building and property was purchased by J. P. and Mary Jon Bryan in the name of Gage Hotel, LP. The Captain Shepard house and original carriage house is operated as a part of the Gage Hotel facilities. The current ownership is listed and described in a general warranty deed recorded in Volume 276, Page 74 of the Brewster County Records. The Brewster County Records list the address as the Gage Hotel LP, 1331 Lamar Street, Ste 1450, Houston, Texas 77010-3051. III. SIGNIFICANCE The significance of the Shepard home, now known as The Captain Shepard s Inn, is a combination of several items. All are related to the age of the building, the early history and significant contributions of the original owner, his contribution to the settlement of the region all prior to the creation of Brewster County out of Presidio County on February 2, 1887. Captain Shepard served as a captain of a sea going vessel, crossing the seas in a ship, served as a land surveyor laying out land for the railroad and helped in establishing the final alignment of the railroad for the GH & SA Railroad across west Texas. He established a working ranch with an estimated 25,000 head of sheep, that were managed by sheep herders with no fencing. He served as the first postmaster in Marathon. The adobe building contains five bed rooms, a dining room with kitchen, several bath and rest rooms, a sitting room and the original carriage house. The original home is two stories and is a significant building that has served the community for the last 125 plus years. The historic structure is a tribute to the visions of those early persons that settled the southwest. IV. DOCUMENTATION 1 Alpine Avalanche, Sixtieth Anniversary of the Avalanche, September 14, 1951, Volume 60. Number 52; p. 50 2. Wedin, AnneJo P., T he Magnificent Marathon Basin, A History of Marathon, Texas Its People and Events, 1989, Nortex Press, A Division of Eakin Publications, Inc., Austin, Texas, p. 5, 47, 130 3. Casey, Clifford B., Mirages, Mysteries and Reality BREWSTER COUNTY TEXAS the Big Bend of the Rio Grande, 1972, Pioneer Book Publishers, Inc, PO Box 1003,Hereford, Texas 79045, p.22, 103, 155 4. USGS TOPOGRAPHIC MAPS, TEX ALTUDA, Edition of 1923 5. USGS TOPOGRAPHIC MAPS, MARATHON, TEX, Edition of 1920 6. USGS TOPOGRAPHIC MAPS, TEX HESS CANYON, Edition of 1923 3
7. Holt, R. D., Pioneer Cowmen of Brewster County and the Big Bend Area, The Cattleman, June 1942, Volume 29, p 13, 14, 23 8. Gallo, Danielle, Albion Shepard Sea Captain and founder of Marathon, Texas, Cenizo Journal Fourth Quarter 2012, Published by Cenizo Journal LLC, PO Box 2025, Alpine, Texas 79831, p.8 9. Lassiter, Berta Clark, We Come and Go, The Naylor Company, San Antonio, Texas 1949, p. 6 10. Burnham, Dessie Ferol, A History of Marathon, Texas, Unpublished Manuscript, p. 6 11. Brewster County Deed Records and Public Records, County Courthouse, County Clerk Office, Alpine, Texas 79830, Volume 276, Page 74 4