Atascosa Lodge No. 379, A.F. and A.M.

The lodge was born in a town that tried to become a county. By 1878 Benton City had a Masonic hall, a newspaper called the Benton City Era and a school, the Benton City Institute. In 1879 residents tried to form their own county, but Medina and Bexar counties, whose land they wanted, refused. The International-Great Northern railroad bypassed the town in 1881, and the population fell to about fifty by 1884. The post office lasted to 1929, and after 1956 only the Institute's ruins and the Masonic hall marked the site.

What the plaque says

Atascosa Lodge No. 379, A.F. and A.M. Organized by eleven Master Masons in Benton City in 1872 and chartered June 9, 1873, by Grand Lodge of Texas. First hall, erected of stone in 1876, provided space for public school. The lodge, which has furnished social and cultural leadership to this locality, was moved to Lytle on May 20, 1909. (1970) Marker in appreciation for Masons past and present.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Landmark Inn State Historic Site — 9.3 mi
  A store and stage stop at the Medina River ford in Henri Castro's Alsatian town, with a mill race under the ground and rooms you can still rent for the night.
• San Antonio Missions National Historical Park — 21 mi
  Four working parish churches on the Mission Trail south of downtown, with the visitor center at Mission San Jose, the Queen of the Missions, and the descendants who still worship there.
• Mission Concepción — 21 mi
  A stone church dedicated in 1755 that has never fallen into ruin, its convento ceilings still painted, and the ground where the Texas Revolution's fight for San Antonio began.
• Mission Espada and the Espada Aqueduct — 22 mi
  The southernmost San Antonio mission and the oldest Spanish aqueduct in the United States, still carrying river water over Sixmile Creek to the fields after nearly three centuries.

More markers nearby

• Lytle Methodist Church — 0.4 mi
• Robert Lee Bobbitt — 3.0 mi
• City Hotel — 5.2 mi
• Our Lady of Grace Catholic Church — 5.5 mi