Richardson, Asher and Mary Isabelle, House

Built between 1909 and 1911, Bel-Asher was designed by San Antonio architect Alfred Giles for Asher Richardson's 10-acre site in the center of Asherton, Texas. Named for Richardson and his wife Belle, the house is an important example of the residential projects Giles designed after 1900. The balance of horizontal and vertical massing results in an unusual combination of the stylistic vocabularies of Beaux Arts Classicism and the Prairie School. Richardson envisioned Bel-Asher as the centerpiece of the town he created in the midst of his ranch holdings in Dimmit County. As part of an unsuccessful campaign to move the county seat to Asherton, Richardson chartered the Asherton and Gulf Railway in 1909. Although his grander efforts remained unrealized, Richardson continued to entertain the elite of Dimmit County at Bel-Asher, making it the focal point of social life in the area.

Asher Richardson was born on 21 September 1855 near Snow Hill, Maryland. Discharged from the United States Army in 1877 at Ringgold Barracks, Texas, he settled at San Pedro Creek in Dimmit County, where the Census of 1880 lists him as a wool grower. On 30 June 1881, Richardson married Mary Isabelle Votaw, the daughter of prominent stockman William Votaw.

Richardson worked on Votaw's 15,000-acre San Pedro Ranch during the 1880s and began to amass his own land holdings in the vicinity. He acquired several sections of surveyed School Lands from the State of Texas in 1886, purchased the El Moro Ranch at sheriff's sale in 1897, and bought the Oak Grove Ranch in 1903. In 1907, he finalized the purchase of the San Pedro Ranch from his father-in-law's estate, bringing his holdings to 240,000 acres of land utilized for farming and ranching. Richardson introduced many improvements to the area, including extensive use of wire fencing and the use of artesian wells to irrigate the arid region.

In platting Asherton, Richardson reserved Block 172 as the site of his residence in a deed filed on 12 February 1898. His confidence in the future of the new community is reflected in the language of the deed:

In dedicating this town site, Asher Richardson expressly reserves unto himself and his assigns the exclusive right to lay in the streets and alleys, water and gas mains, street car tracks, and to place telephone and electric lines therein and thereunder.

Richardson realized the importance of providing a rail connection for the new community and his farming and ranching holdings. A scheme to link Artesia Wells and Carrizo Springs by rail via Asherton failed in 1908, prompting him to charter the Asherton and Gulf Railway Company. In 1909, construction began on a 34-mile