J. O. Langford's old Auto Court is listed as a contributing building for the Hot Springs National Register Historic District in Big Bend National Park Texas.
From the National Park Service website: (
visit link)
"The Hot Springs Historic District preserves a rich history of human occupation from thousands of years ago to the not-so-distant past. Visitors can study rock art left behind on the limestone cliffs, picture farms of corn, squash, and beans along the river's floodplain, or imagine what it would have been like to meet at the Hot Springs Post Office in the early 1900s to collect your mail each Monday.
Hot Springs Historic Post Office
A Homesteaders Story
During the early 1900s, the motto was "Go West Young Man." In 1909, J.O. Langford heeded this call and headed for West Texas with his family. He came to the area to regain his health. As a child, living in Mississippi, he contracted malaria and reoccurring bouts with this disease ravaged his body. In the lobby of a hotel in Alpine, Texas, he heard tales of a spring that would cure anything:
"Stomach trouble, rheumatism, all sorts of skin diseases," the old man vowed. "I wonder why it is that I've never heard of those springs before. It looks like somebody would have tried to develop them like they've done at Hot Springs, Arkansas," the Mississippian replied. "Nothing down there but rattlesnakes and bandit Mexicans. And it's too far away---that damned country promises more and gives less than any place I ever saw," the old man replied.
After verifying the story with other townspeople, and without even looking at the land, J.O. knew he had to have that spring. He rushed to the county surveyor's office and filed his claim under the Homestead Act. Two weeks later the Langford family received word that the claim was theirs.
The Homestead Act stated that one had to have 3 years of continuous occupancy and $300 in improvements to the land in addition to a minimum bid of $1.50 per acre. Others had filed on this land but no one had been able to meet the requirements of the Act.
With his wife, Bessie, an 18 month old daughter, and a baby on the way, the family began an eleven day journey to reach their new home. Today, the trip from Alpine takes about 2 hours. Upon their arrival, the Langfords discovered Cleofas Natividad, his wife, and their ten children living and farming on their land. At first the Langfords pondered what to do about these "squatters." Then, they realized that this land had probably been home to this family for generations. Cleofas turned out to be the best neighbor anyone could have asked for, always there to help in a time of need.
Once J.O. had regained his health by taking a 21 day treatment of bathing and drinking the spring water, he opened the springs to other bathers. The cost was 10 cents per day or $2.00 for the whole 21 day treatment. In addition to running the bathhouse, he became a schoolteacher, a self taught doctor, and a postman.
The Hot Springs was more than just a place to restore health; it was also a meeting place for people from all walks of life, from both sides of the river. It was a prelude to the tourism that would come with the establishment of Big Bend National Park.
Today, visitors can take a walk back in time with a visit the Hot Springs Historic District. Pictographs are visible along the cliff wall, and several of the buildings have been preserved. You can also soak in the 105°F water that bubbles up from a hole in the old foundation of the bathhouse.
A Hot Springs Guidebook is available for a nominal fee at the Hot Springs trailhead."
From the nomination form on file with the Texas Historical Commission:
"The district is comprised of:
Contributing buildings: 2
Contributing structures: 1
Contributing sites: 1
Non-contributing sites: 2
From the Nomimation file:
Original Appearance: Perhaps the first structure at Hot Springs was a stone tub carved in a flat layer of rock which caught the waters from the spring and enabled man to use the waters for bathing purposes.
Some time prior to the arrival of the Langfords, a dugout had been constructed and subsequently abandoned. This was rehabilitated and served as the Langfords first home. Shortly thereafter Langford erected a one-room adobe house on a beach overlooking the site. A stone addition, roofed with river cane and corrugated metal and containing two more rooms, was added a year later. Langford also constructed a substantial stone bathhouse at the site of the springs, containing rock tubs plastered with cement. There were also a number of cane and brush bathing shelters at a second spring, downstream from the area.
Due to bandit raids and general border unrest, the Langfords left Hot Springs in 1912. When they returned 14 years later in 1927 Langford apparently discovered that the bathhouse had either been destroyed or at least was badly disintegrated. He immediately rebuilt it, but of a somewhat smaller and less substantial construction, being roofed only with canvas. He also constructed at this time a store and a motor court. Only these last two structures remain today.
Present Appearance; Both the store and the motor court are currently being restored by the NPS to their original appearance.
The store is a one-story stone structure approximately 28 x 12 feet in dimension. The walls are constructed of native stone set in earth mortar and painted with a natural limestone mortar. The roof is trussed rafter construction with wood sheathing and corrugated metal roofing. The interior walls are plastered and pointed and, at least during Maggie Smith's occupancy, a celotex or similar material was used as a ceiling attached to the bottom chord of the roof trusses.
The cabins consist of a row of seven attached one-room units, each approximately 11 x 15 feet in size. Of stone construction, the one-story structure has a wood-framed roof with rolled mineral-surfaced roofing. A flagstone terrace along the south side and east and west ends was originally covered by a porch or ramada. The interior of the walls were plastered and the exposed wood joists and wood trim were painted. Four of the rooms contain hand-painted murals.
Two other structures still remain on a hillside across Tornillos Creek to the west. However, these structures were not part of the Langford operation These are a frame and adobe shack constructed as temporary quarters for a postman, and a stone residence constructed by Charles Livingstone of Alpine, Texas. Both are now in a state of ruin."