East Main Street Residential Historic District

Situated two blocks east of the Cuero Commercial Historic District, the E. Main Street Residential Historic District includes a cohesive collection of late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century vernacular dwellings. The majority of the contributing properties are one-story frame structures; however, a few two-story dwellings stand in the district. The Stadler- Kossbiel House is the largest and most impressive structure and was built by lumberman, banker and investor C.L. Stadler. The grand scale of the residence and the ornate woodwork reflect Stadler's prominent role in the community. At least two of the houses in the district are believed to have originally been built in Indianola but were moved to Cuero following the 1886 storm. A total of 38 structures are located in the district with 27 classified as contributing.

The district is being nominated on its architectural merits. While the Terrell-Reuss Streets Historic District includes the town's most majestic residences, this area contains an extremely good and intact cross-section of the kinds of houses that were built for persons with more modest incomes. The E. Main Street Historic District, therefore, reflects a much larger segment of the town's population and provides an insightful glimpse into the architectural tastes and preferences of Cuero's middle-income class of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Unlike the buildings in the town's other districts, the structures in this area were built by individual craftsmen and lumberyards and were not designed by architects. Several excellent examples of vernacular and popular or pattern-book houses stand within its confines.
Because the district includes portions of the original town site, several houses date to Cuero's founding era. In 1881, for example, only seven houses were standing along the 400 to 600 blocks of E. Main Streets. The remaining lots were vacant and unoccupied. Research from Sanborn Insurance maps, tax rolls and bird's eye maps suggests that the area was developed slowly. By the late 1920s, however, most of the houses that presently define the district's historic character was erected. Relatively little new construction and few insensitive alterations to older structures have taken place since that time.