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The Castolon Historic District is a place to explore some of the human history at Big Bend National Park in Texas. It’s located along the Ross Maxwell Scenic Drive and provides great views of Santa Elena Canyon.
History
Castolon was settled in the early 1900s by farmers who raised corn, tomatoes, beans, squash, and wheat. Between 1912 and 1920, many Mexican families moved north of the border to Castolon to escape the bloodshed of the Mexican Revolution.
In 1916, the US Army established Camp Santa Helena at Castolon to protect residents from cross-border raids. Soldiers lived in tents until a permanent post was constructed between 1919 and 1920. By the time those buildings were finished, the Revolution was over and the camp was disbanded. The buildings were most likely never used by the soldiers, and included an officers’ quarters, enlisted men’s barracks, latrine, granary, shed, and stable.
From 1919 to 1961, when Big Bend National Park acquired Castolon, the area was used by ranchers growing cotton. The cotton boom lasted from 1922 to 1942, and there are some pieces of machinery and equipment from that period scattered among the buildings.
La Harmonia Store
Much of the action at Castolon revolved around the La Harmonia Store. The store was founded by Cipriano Hernandez in 1901 as a trading post run out of his home. He sold it to Clyde Buttrill in 1914, who hired James Sublett to manage the store and farm. Sublett relocated the store to another building at Old Castolon in 1918. In 1919, Wayne Cartledge, the bookkeeper for Howard Perry (1858-1944) of the Chisos Mining Company in Terlingua, partnered with Perry to buy the store. Cartledge renamed it La Harmonia Store and ran it with his son, Eugene.
In 1921, the La Harmonia Store moved into the building originally meant to serve as the barracks for Camp Santa Helena. It operated in that location until 1961 under four different managers, and park concessioners have run it since then.
When we visited the park in November 2015, the store was in operation and doubled as the Castolon Visitor Center. There were exhibits about the harsh life in the area, racial injustice, and eyewitness accounts from ranchers and soldiers who were posted there. Sadly, the store burned down on May 22, 2019. Park officials are consulting with historians and experts about the possibility of salvaging or rehabilitating the building, but until then, the store will remain closed (as of April 2024).
Officers’ Quarters
Across from the store is the Officers’ Quarters of Camp Santa Helena. It was built along with the other army structures between 1919 and 1920. Today, it has served as the Castolon Visitor Center ever since the fire at the La Harmonia Store.
Magdalena House
The Magdalena House was built after the military camp was abandoned. Magdalena Silvas, who lived and worked in the Castolon area for over 30 years, moved into the house in the 1950s with her five children. She worked as a cook at the La Harmonia Store and also washed and ironed clothes. After the park acquired Castolon, the house was used as a home and office for government employees. Today, it features exhibits about life in Castolon.
Garlick House
The Garlick House sits a few steps past the Magdalena House. It was also built after the military camp was abandoned. The house was owned by Fred Garlick, who was the farm manager for the La Harmonia Company.
After its acquisition by the National Park Service, the Garlick House served as an office for rangers. The house is one of the best examples of an adobe structure in the park.
Alvino House
The Alvino House is just downhill from the Garlick House. Built in 1901 by Cipriano Hernandez, it’s the oldest surviving adobe structure at Big Bend National Park. Hernandez used the house as the original Castolon store and it remained there until 1918.
Alvino Ybarra moved into the house in 1918. He married Teofila Luna in 1922, and they raised three sons and three daughters in the house until Luna died in 1936. Ybarra continued living in the house until 1957 when he moved to Alpine. He earned his living by operating the engines powering the cotton gin and water pump that brought water from the Rio Grande to irrigate the cotton fields. He also worked as a tenant farmer for the La Harmonia Company.
The Alvino House was used as a community center while Ybarra lived there. Religious events such as masses, baptisms, and weddings were performed there several times a year, and the community came together to celebrate holidays there as well.
The house was restored in 1994. Adobe masons manufactured bricks on-site to repair the walls, and they also fixed the sagging roof. A berm around the foundation was built in 2008 to protect it from flooding.
