Louis L . Hess and Charles W . Hess examine the ruins of the old J . J Hess and Brother store after it was destroyed in a fire . Only the original brick vault was left standing , a relic of the bank of which Louis Hess was president .

purchased the largest house in town , for its original owner Albion Shepherd left town shortly after he had it built . Mr . Hess began acquiring land north of town for a cattle ranch which eventually covered 23,000 acres as sections were added . He started a Hereford cattle business before moving to San Antonio , leaving a Mr . Goud as foreman . When it was time to hire a new foreman , he replaced Goud with a conscientious cowboy , Benito Garcia , who was currently working on the ranch . Thus , Ben became the first Mexican-American in the area to hold such a position . Ben , his wife Lola and their family all lived on the ranch for decades . As the Garcia children left home one child , Arturo , remained and worked the ranch with his father , eventually even leasing it from the Hesses . The cattle company continued until 1976 ,

The Hess ranch had been in an equal and undivided trust since 1948 , when Louis died . As the 1980s were coming to a close , his son Leonard ’ s widow Mary Hess negotiated with Marie Hess Courand and the ranch was divided between the families . In 1996 Mary Hess sold her portion of the ranch to a relative of Leonard ’ s , Robert Buscher . Robert had a deep connection to the ranch as he had worked there in his youth alongside Leonard .

Mary and Leonard ' s youngest son , Paul , had inherited three lots in northeast Marathon . Since two of their four sons had for years yearned to build on the lots , he and his wife , Katherine , began looking at Marathon real estate as an alternative after Paul retired . They were blessed to find Facundo and Elijia Garcia ’ s original adobe for sale on Southwest C Street . For three and a half years they ' ve been the proud owners of this property , which locals Russ Tidwell and later Marshall Oatman had improved . They love learning about the history of the house . Elijia was a midwife and several local people have told them that they were born in the adobe .

Their goal in maintaining the houses on the property is to honor all the people who came before them .

Cenizo Spring 2021