The Lee Building

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Out here in Maverick County, there's a building that has outlasted empires, or at least a couple of wars, and it's got the walls to prove it. The Lee Building.

Before 1875, somebody put up this sturdy structure at Fort Duncan as quarters for the ordnance sergeant. Not glamorous, maybe, but built to last. And last it did.

Fast forward to 1948, when the Maverick County Historical Society came calling. Under the leadership of Mmes. C.

O. Ostrom, A. H.

Evans, and S. P. Simpson, the society leased the old building and set to work restoring it.

Now, those three women deserve a moment of appreciation, because resurrecting a pre-1875 military structure is not exactly a light afternoon project. But they got it done. And when they did, the building was dedicated right in the middle of the Eagle Pass Centennial Celebration, October of 1949, to serve as a museum and meeting hall.

The name, though. The name is what gives this building its extra weight. The Lee Building honors Robert E.

Lee, who came through this very place in 1860 as commander of the U.S. 2nd Cavalry, Department of Texas. He walked these grounds as a U.S. Army officer.

A few years later, of course, he would be on the other side of the most consequential conflict this country ever fought, as a general in the Civil War. The building stood before he arrived. It was still standing after everything that followed.

Some walls just have a way of keeping score.

What the marker says

Constructed before 1875, as quarters for ordnance sergeant. Leased in 1948 by Maverick County Historical Society under leadership of Mmes. C. O. Ostrom, A. H. Evans, S. P. Simpson. After restoration, it was dedicated during Eagle Pass Centennial Celebration, Oct. 1949, for use as a museum and meeting hall. Name honors Robert E. Lee, who visited here 1860 as commander U.S. 2nd Cavalry, Department of Texas; later general in Civil War. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1968