DUANE
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Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and here's how I tell it to you. August C. Richter was born in San Antonio in 1863, and by 1888 he had made his way to Laredo.
Now, Laredo was a trading town, a border town, a town that knew the value of a dollar, and Richter fit right in. He acquired full ownership of an early fixed price department store, went by the name El Precio Fijo. The fixed price.
In a world where haggling was practically a civic tradition, that was a statement. He built something lasting out of it. His wife Julia, though, she was building something different entirely.
She moved in the city's cultural and educational circles, and she didn't just attend, she shaped them. Julia Richter introduced music to the Laredo public schools. Think about that for a moment.
Every child who ever lifted a voice or drew a bow across a string in a Laredo classroom, that thread runs back to her. Now by 1906, the Richters were ready to put their story in stone. Well, in columns and porches, to be precise.
They built a classical revival home for their family, and they did not do it halfway. Ionic columns out front, wraparound porches on the first floor and the second floor both, the kind of home that says we are here, and we intend to stay. August Richter lived until 1940.
The house outlasted him, as good houses do. It stands today as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, the stone-and-column testament to two people who each, in their own way, gave Laredo something it kept.
What the marker says
A native of San Antonio, August C. Richter (1863-1940) moved to Laredo in 1888. He acquired full ownership of an early fixed price department store, "El Precio Fijo." His wife, Julia, played a major role in the city's cultural and educational circles and introduced music to the Laredo public schools. This classical revival home, built for their family in 1906, features Ionic columns and first and second story wraparound porches. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1985