DUANE
Duane's take
The marker tells it plain, so let me tell it right — this is my take on the official story of the Old Perry Building in Val Verde County. Way back in 1871, before Del Rio was even a town on the map, a man named John Perry put up a building. Now think on that for just a second.
There was no Del Rio yet. No city, no county seat, no nothing — and John Perry looked out at that stretch of Texas between San Antonio and El Paso and said, I'm putting up a store. And he did.
A general store, standing out there in what you might charitably call the middle of everywhere and nowhere at once. And it grew. That store grew into what folks reckoned was the largest store between San Antonio and El Paso.
Not just big for the area — the biggest for the whole long lonesome stretch between two of the most storied cities in the state. But a building that size, sitting alone like that in open country, has a way of becoming more than what it was built to be. It served as a courthouse.
It served as a church. The Masons held their lodge there. Mail came through it — it was the post office too.
One building carrying the weight of a whole civilization trying to get its footing in West Texas. That's not just commerce. That's community.
Years passed, Del Rio did eventually rise up around it, and the old building stood through all of it. Then in 1965, the descendants of Walter and Will Whitehead gave the building to the city and the county. A gift.
Just handed it over, history and all. Some things are too big to keep, and some things are too important to let go of — and somehow, giving it away was the right way to hold onto both.
What the marker says
Erected 1871, before Del Rio was founded, by John Perry, as General Store. Once the largest store between San Antonio and El Paso. Served also as courthouse, church, Masonic lodge, and post office. Given in 1965 to city and county by descendants of Walter and Will Whitehead. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1966.