Bel-Asher

Duane's take

Here's how the marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Out in Dimmit County, there's a house that carries the names of two people in a single breath, and once you know the story, that feels exactly right. The place is called Bel-Asher, and it's been standing since 1910.

Now, when a man builds a house that grand, you'd better believe he had the means and the vision to pull it off, and Asher Richardson had both. He'd already routed his railroad, the Asherton and Gulf Railway Co., through the town of Asherton in 1905. His town.

The one he developed. So by the time 1910 rolled around, Richardson wasn't just a man of ambition; he was a man with a railroad, a town, and now, a house to match. He brought in Alfred Giles to design it.

Noted San Antonio architect, Alfred Giles (the kind of name you drop and the room goes a little quieter). What Giles delivered was an architectural hybrid, something with prairie school style influences worked into its bones, built from native sandstone, with those large projecting eaves reaching out like the house itself was trying to shade the whole county. It's an imposing structure; that's the word the marker reaches for, and standing in front of it, you understand why.

Then there's the name. Bel-Asher. Not Belle's house, not Richardson's place; Bel-Asher.

A christening that stitches together the first name of Asher Richardson and the first name of his wife, Mary Isabelle, known as Belle. Two names, one house, one family. And that family never let go of it.

The house has remained in the family for generations, which, when you think about it, is the whole point of building something that well, with that much stone, under those wide-reaching eaves. You build it to last. And it did.

What the marker says

Designed by noted San Antonio architect Alfred Giles and built in 1910, this imposing structure was the home of Asher Richardson and his wife, Mary Isabelle (Belle). Richardson developed the town of Asherton, routing his railroad, the Asherton and Gulf Railway Co., through the city in 1905. Christened with a combination of the Richardsons' first names, the house has remained in the family for generations. An architectural hybrid with some prairie school style influences, Bel-Asher features native sandstone construction and large projecting eaves. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1990