Courthouse and county jail, looking towards the southeast, sometime after courthouse completion in 1910

 

The building is part of Mason's rich and colorful history. Built somewhere in the late 1800s it suffered some fire damage in the fire of 1890 that destroyed many of the buildings on the Northeast corner of the square. Much of the building's history comes from B. Don Zesch, grandson of William Adolph Zesch, one of the buildings first proprietors. .

Before the turn of the 20th Century, Henry McDougall operated the Buckhorn Saloon on the first floor until his death on March 22, 1868. His widow, Martha S. Zesch McDougall sold the building to her brother, William Adolph (Will) Zesch, who continued to operate the saloon for many years. Eventually, the saloon was changed to a meat market/grocery/bakery. Zesch's Meat Market was a fixture around the Mason square for many years. The Meat Market sold groceries, baked goods, and of course, meat. The front of the store had deer heads mounted along the walls and a live pet owl roosted in the antlers. The groceries were also in front, then a large glass front meat counter across the width of the building. Behind it were the two large meat blocks on legs for cutting the meat. Behind this was a large walk-in meat cooler. It had thick cork walls for insulation.   In deer season people brought in their deer for processing and cold storage. Behind this was a large open area to the left against the west wall was a place to grind meat and stuff sausage casings. The sausage and grinding machines were operated by a gasoline engine with a fly wheel that had a large belt. The engine would only fire when the governor slowed down to a certain speed. You just knew it was going to stop and then it would fire again. Behind this area on the east side was the bakery. There was a large mixer on the floor, tables and ovens for making the bread. Toward the back on the west side was the large Barbeque pit. It had a large steel cover that would stay open by a rope, pulley and counter weight. Barbeque was available at noon six days a week. The well that supplied water to the whole city block is back there too.

Burned northeast side of the square, 1890-1900, the bed and breakfast building is the first building still standing behind the group of men   Photo courtesy of B. Don Zesch

Upstairs, at the top of the stairs was an open area and a front room. B. Don Zesch was actually born in the front room on February 27, 1930 to A. W. (Bert) and Jewell Naomi Capps Zesch. In the back was an apartment where Will Zesch lived after his wife, Pearl Naomi King Zesch, died on July 29, 1935. Will lived in the building until he married his brother Leo’s widow, Lina Sophie Gross Zesch, on September 16, 1946. As an interesting part of Mason history, Leo’s first wife, Agnes Elizabeth von Meusebach was John Otfried von Meusebach’s daughter. Meusebach was the Commissioner General of the German Immigration Company that settled Mason County and the man who negotiated the famous peace treaty with the Comanche Chiefs in 1847, allegedly the only peace treaty that was never broken.

The Meat Market shut down sometime before 1940. According to Don, during the years of the Great Depression people charged their groceries and then could not pay their bill. The debts became so great that it finally got too much for Bert and Will and they were forced to close the business. For many years Bert Zesch kept the book of names and how much people owed them until he finally burned it.

Northeast side of the square, Confederate Parade 1880s

Northeast side of the square date unknown, likely 1870-1880s

In his later years, Will Zesch allegedly dropped a bundle of rifles as he carried them down the steep stairway that leads to the second floor. Two of the rifles were apparently loaded and discharged. Luckily, no one was hurt. However, there are two holes in the pressed tin ceiling above the stairwell still today.

The Zesch family sold the building in December 1970 to the Mason Country Store, a group of citizens that sold arts and crafts created by Mason County residents. Since the heydays of the Meat Market, the building has housed many businesses. Eventually, the upstairs was renovated to operate a bed and breakfast which it has done since 1991. The bed and breakfast was purchased by Michelle and Shain Chapman in September, 2004. The Chapman’s remodeled the exterior and interior with new paint, wallpaper, carpet, furnishings, and antiques.