Numbers 22-25
23-Amphion and Amphion Cemetery | 24-Atascosa County | 22-Benton City Cemetery | 25-Christine Depot Museum and Library | 23-Rossville Cemetery
22-Benton City Cemetery
Marker Title: Benton City Cemetery
City: Lytle
County: Atascosa
Year Marker Erected: 1970
Marker Location: From Lytle, take FM 3175 about 1.9 miles southeast
to cemetery.
Marker Text: Benton City Cemetery (Established 1870). First public
cemetery in this community, which was famous in early days for its
outstanding school, aggressive businesses, and newspaper, the Benton
City "Era." Site was given by James M. Jones, farmer-livestock
raiser and leading citizen, whose rock house stood nearby. Jones and
family moved here in 1869, when Atascosa County (with Amphion the
county seat) was a frontier region of south Texas. Interred here are
pioneers and veterans of Indian warfare, the Civil War, World War
I, World War II, and other conflicts.
23-Amphion and Amphion Cemetery
Marker Title: Amphion and Amphion Cemetery
City: Poteet
County: Atascosa
Year Marker Erected: 1992
Marker Location: From Poteet, take FM 476 West about .5 miles, then
go South as FM 2146 about 4 miles, make a left onto County Road at
Amphion Community. Cemetery will be on left.
Marker Text: Amphion traces its beginning to the establishment of
Atascosa County's first courthouse which is believed to have been
constructed near this site at the county seat of Navatasco in 1857.
Amphion, thought to have been named after a figure in Greek mythology,
was located within the 17,000-acre ranch of Jose Antonio Navarro,
a prominent local rancher and signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence.
Amphion was at one time a thriving community with several general
stores, a hotel, post office, blacksmith shop, cotton gin, tannery,
churches, fraternal lodges and a school. Amphion Cemetery was established
about 1870 at this site on land donated by Roy Jenkins and Frank Lozano.
Although the earliest recorded gravesite is that of Laura Underwood
(d.1891) there is a gravestone with the year 1800 inscribed on its
surface that local tradition claims marks the grave of a young boy
killed by Indians. This cemetery contains the graves of at least two
veterans of the American Civil War. When railroad lines were built
through Atascosa County in 1907 and 1927 along routes that bypassed
Amphion, business activity declined and the community eventually dissolved.
Virtually all that remains of the former town of Amphion is this cemetery.
(1992)
23-Rossville Cemetery
Marker Title: Rossville Cemetery
City: Rossville
County: Atascosa
Year Marker Erected: 1986
Marker Location: At intersection of FM 476 and FM 2504, take County
Road west to cemetery about 200 yards.
Marker Text: Texas statesman Jose Antonio Navarro (1795-1871) transferred
land here along the Atascosa River to his eldest son Jose Antonio
George Navarro. J.A.G. Navarro (b.1819) then gave 160 acres here to
his daughter Maria Antonia Navarro (1845-1922) in 1870, on the occasion
of her marriage in San Antonio to Scotsman John C. Ross (1839-1925).
One acre at this site was reserved for a cemetery. Ross and his brother
William subsequently founded the community of Rossville here after
1873. The first burial was that of Juana Chaves Navarro (1820-1874),
wife of J.A.G. Navarro. Other pioneers who lived in this area before
the founding of Rossville are buried here. Their family names include
Alvarez, Bergara, Castanon, Cruz, Galindo, Gonzales, Tabberer, Tober,
Riojas, and Stokes. Confederate veteran Clemente Galindo (1844-1881)
and his wife Martha Goins Galindo (1845-1903) are buried here along
with many of their descendants. By the 1920s the road to the graveyard
was often impassable, so John Ross was buried in the family plot at
the Episcopal Church Cemetery (1 mi. E). His wife Maria Antonia is
buried here, near their home site. Other Navarro, Chaves, and Ross
descendants are also buried here, including Texas Ranger Captain Tom
Ross (1871-1946), son of John and Maria Antonia Ross. (1986) Texas
Sesquicentennial 1836-1986.
24-Atascosa County
Marker Title: Atascosa County
City: Jourdanton
County: Atascosa
Year Marker Erected: 1936
Marker Location: From Jourdanton, take SH 97 about 3 miles northeast
to roadside park.
Marker Text: As early as 1722 El Camino Real (The King's Highway)
from the Rio Grande to San Antonio was well established in this area.
The Spanish word "Atascosa," denoting boggy ground that
hindered travel, gave region its name. The County was created in 1856
from land formerly in Bexar County. Jose Antonio Navarro, whose 1831
claim was the first grant recorded in area, gave land in 1857 for
first county seat, Navatasco. County seat moved to Pleasanton in 1858,
to Jourdanton in 1911. Livestock, oil, gas and strawberries are well-known
products of the county.
25-Christine Depot Museum and Library
Museum Name: Christine Depot Museum and Library
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 169
City: Christine
Zip Code: 78012
Area Code: 210
Phone: 264-3567
County: Atascosa