DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Quinta Mazatlan, the home of Jason Matthews. Now settle in, because this one's got some character to it. Out here in Hidalgo County sits one of the larger adobe homes in the entire state of Texas — and the man who put it there was not exactly your run-of-the-mill builder.
Jason Chilton Matthews, born in 1887 and gone by 1964, was a composer, a writer, and an adventurer. The marker calls him eccentric, and you get the feeling that's a word his neighbors chose very carefully. During the late 1930s, Matthews designed and built Quinta Mazatlan himself.
And when we say built, we mean built — the adobe blocks used in that construction were made right there at the site. He wasn't importing materials from somewhere fancy. He was pressing the earth beneath his feet into the walls around his head.
Now, a man like that doesn't slow down much in his later years either. During the last few years of their lives, Jason and his wife Marcia — born in 1891, gone in 1963 — edited and published the American Mercury magazine from this very home. Think about that.
A leading conservative publication, known for its strong pro-American views, being run out of a handmade adobe house in the Rio Grande Valley. The American Mercury had been going since 1924, and here it was, still printing, still opinionated, with a composer-writer-adventurer and his wife keeping the whole operation alive on their own terms. Quinta Mazatlan.
One man's eccentric vision, pressed into the earth, block by block, and still standing to tell the story.
What the marker says
One of the larger adobe homes in the state, Quinta Mazatlan was designed and built by Jason Chilton Matthews (1887-1964) during the late 1930s. Adobe blocks used in construction were made at this site. A composer, writer, and adventurer, Matthews was known for his eccentric ways. During the last few years of their lives, Jason and his wife Marcia (1891-1963) edited and published the "American Mercury" magazine from here. Begun in 1924, the magazine was a leading conservative publication which expressed strong pro-American views. (1985)