L. Schwartz Company

The Schwartz sons kept the store through a Depression that hit Uvalde County hard. Farms and ranches fell from 977 in 1925 to 761 in 1930, and corn, cotton, honey, pecan and oat production dropped, though wool and mohair surged. Many ranchers sold pecans to get by, and many beekeepers quit. Many Mexican families went back to Mexico or were repatriated. Two federal projects came late in the decade: the National Fish Hatchery west of Uvalde in 1937, and Garner State Park, built by the Civilian Conservation Corps and opened in 1941.

What the plaque says

L. Schwartz Company Louis Schwartz (1840-1924), a native of Alsace-Lorraine, came to the United States in 1866. He later moved to Uvalde and sold dry goods and medicines, using a wagon to serve the surrounding area. In 1878 he established a mercantile store in a frame structure near the corner of Main and Camp streets. About 1900 he moved the operation to a new building at this site. After his death in 1924 the store was operated by his sons Lee and Jake Schwartz. The business remained an important Uvalde commercial enterprise until it closed in 1960. 1981

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Uvalde Grand Opera House — steps away
  An 1891 Victorian opera house on the Uvalde square with a turret and a dragon weathervane, once owned by John Nance Garner and still staging volunteer theater upstairs.
• Briscoe-Garner Museum — 0.4 mi
  The Uvalde house of John Nance Garner, the vice president who made the office a power in Congress, now a free museum to him and to Governor Dolph Briscoe.
• Fort Inge Historical Site — 2.5 mi
  A county park on the Leona River below a 140-foot volcanic plug, where an army post guarded the new road to El Paso from 1849 to 1869 and Texas Rangers camped after.

More markers nearby

• Kincaid Hotel — steps away
• Captain William Benson — steps away
• Uvalde County — steps away
• Rice Hotel and Saddlery — steps away