DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker at Landmark Inn tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. You're rolling along the old Eagle Pass to San Antonio Road, right where it crosses the Medina River, and these limestone buildings are sitting there like they've got something to say. Turns out, they do.
It starts in 1844, when an Alsatian colonist by the name of Michel Simon settled right here at this river ford. A man plants his flag, and pretty soon others follow — that's just how it goes. By 1849, Caesar Monod had arrived and built himself a one-story home, a store, and a separate kitchen to go with it.
Modest beginnings, but the road was busy and the river crossing was real. Give it a few decades, and John and Rowena Vance had taken Simon's original home and converted it into a wash house, put up a brand new residence, and enlarged the store all the way into a two-story hotel. That's not renovation, friends — that's transformation.
And it wasn't just trade and travel keepin' this place alive. A mill went up on the river in 1854, which is no small thing out here. Joseph Courand came along after 1876 and modernized that mill.
Then J.T. Lawler got hold of it after 1925 and pushed it even further — running hydroelectricity off that same Medina River. Same water, new century, new trick.
And finally, carrying the whole tradition forward, Ruth Lawler kept the spirit of hospitality alive at her place, which she called the Landmark Inn — and when the time came, she didn't sell it, didn't let it fade. She deeded it to the state in 1974. A road, a river, a ford, and a hundred and thirty years of people deciding this spot was worth somethin'.
Ruth Lawler made sure the rest of us got to find that out too.
What the marker says
These limestone structures along the Eagle Pass - San Antonio Road at the Medina River ford were once centers of trade, travel, industry, and domestic life. Alsatian colonist Michel Simon settled here in 1844, followed by Caesar Monod, who built a one-story home and store with a separate kitchen in 1849. Within two decades, John and Rowena Vance had converted Simon's home into a wash house, built a new residence, and enlarged the store to include a two-story hotel. A mill was built on the river in 1854, which Joseph Courand modernized after 1876 and J.T. Lawler used for hydroelectricity after 1925. Ruth Lawler kept the tradition of hospitality at her "Landmark Inn" before deeding it to the state in 1974. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1965.