Reading Wood Black

Black was a Quaker from Burlington County, New Jersey, who came to Texas in 1852 with his partner Nathan L. Stratton. On the Leona he raised a thousand sheep, built a stone house, and opened a store, two rock quarries and a limekiln, and he had W. C. A. Thielepape lay out a town he called Encina. He built a gristmill in 1858, and by 1860 his own wagon train freighted between San Antonio and Piedras Negras. He was notably friendly to the Tonkawas and helped draw up treaties with peoples along the Rio Grande.

What the plaque says

Reading Wood Black (1830-1867) On this site stood home and trading post of Reading Wood Black. Native of New Jersey, he settled in Texas, 1853, near Leona River where he was successful in many business ventures. Founded town of Uvalde; gave land for public school. Elected County Commissioner, 1856; State Representative, 1866. (1967)

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 — 0.5 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 — 2.4 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

• The Uvalde "Leader-News" — steps away
• Fort Inge, Camp Dix, C.S.A. — steps away
• Rice Hotel and Saddlery — steps away
• Uvalde County — steps away