DUANE
Duane's take
Now, I'm gonna tell you this one straight from the official historical marker — this is Duane's retelling of the story the Texas Historical Commission saw fit to put in stone. In the 1870s, Stephenville was barely a town by most measurements — three hundred souls, a handful of wooden buildings huddled around a town square, the kind of place where everybody knew everybody's business before breakfast. But that was about to change, and it started with a man named James A.
Shelton. Shelton was born in North Carolina in 1825, and before he ever set foot in Texas, he'd already lived a whole other life. He served with the 21st Tennessee Infantry, C.S.A. — carried whatever that meant through the rest of his years.
After the war, he and his wife, Alabama A. Shelton, packed up their children and pointed themselves toward Erath County. Texas had a way of drawing men who needed a new chapter.
And Shelton made the most of it. He served as an Erath County Sheriff's Deputy — which in those days was not a desk job. He became a prominent citizen.
He helped organize the very first bank in Stephenville. The man was building something, piece by piece. In 1870, he purchased lots on the southeast corner of the town square.
He had his eye on a particular kind of future. Now, he wasn't working alone. Enter George W.
Gentry — also from North Carolina, which tells you something about the currents that carried men to this particular corner of Texas. Gentry had lived in Virginia before making the move, and he brought with him his wife, Caroline M. Gentry, their daughter, and their servants: Lucy Jenkins, Possum Jenkins, and John Jenkins.
When Gentry arrived in Stephenville, he set himself up as a merchant. He served as District Clerk from 1872 to 1876 and was elected Commissioner of Erath County Precinct Two. A man putting down roots in every direction.
In 1873, Shelton and Gentry signed a contract, and what they built was something Stephenville had never seen before. While every other building on that square was wood — ordinary, vulnerable, temporary — they went up in limestone. An imposing limestone structure.
The first stone building ever erected on that square. Now, the building they raised was a two-part masonry commercial block, with an unfinished basement down below and transoms adorning the front façade up top. It had the kind of bones that outlast the people who argue inside it.
And argue — and conduct business, and govern, and socialize, and yes, apparently drink — they did. Over the years that building housed a mercantile store, county government offices, meeting sites for social clubs, a tire shop, an automotive parts store, and a saloon. It wore a lot of hats.
But here's the detail that local tradition passes down like a campfire story, and I see no reason not to pass it along myself: before the courthouse was completed, that unfinished basement served as the county jail. So the very foundation of this fine commercial establishment once held men who were not there by choice. Today it stands as the oldest surviving historic structure on the Stephenville courthouse square.
Three hundred people and a handful of wooden buildings — and two men from North Carolina decided that wasn't enough. They cut limestone and signed a contract and built something that's still standing a hundred and fifty years later. Turns out, what you build matters a good deal more than what you say you're going to build.
What the marker says
In the 1870s, Stephenville’s population was around 300 people and contained a handful of businesses in wooden buildings along the town square. In 1870, James A. Shelton purchased lots on the southeast corner of the town square to open a new business. James A. Shelton was born in North Carolina in 1825 and served with the 21st Tennessee Infantry, C.S.A. After the Civil War, he and his wife, Alabama A. Shelton, and their children, moved to Erath County. For a time, Shelton served as an Erath County Sheriff’s Deputy. He was a prominent citizen who helped organize the first bank in Stephenville. In 1873, Shelton and his business partner, George W. Gentry, signed a contract for the construction of an imposing limestone structure, the first stone building erected on the square. George W. Gentry, also from North Carolina, lived in Virginia before moving with his wife, Caroline M. Gentry, daughter and servants Lucy Jenkins, Possum Jenkins and John Jenkins. upon his arrival in Stephenville, Gentry established himself as a merchant. He served as the District Clerk from 1872 to 1876 and was elected Commissioner of Erath County Precinct Two. As the oldest surviving historic structure situated on the courthouse square, the building is a two-part masonry commercial block with an unfinished basement. Transoms adorn the front façade. over the years, many businesses operated out of the building, including a mercantile store, county government offices, meeting site for social clubs, a tire shop, automotive parts store and saloon. local tradition states that before the courthouse was completed, the basement was used as the county jail.