Old Cuero

Old Cuero, three miles north of Cuero in central DeWitt County, was settled by Daniel Boone Friar in 1839. The Friar home served as post office, store, and stage stop, and the upper story was a public hall. The Congress of the Republic of Texas authorized DeWitt as a judicial county in 1842, and Old Cuero was laid off as a townsite to be the county seat, but judicial counties were declared unconstitutional before the plans were completed. When the official county was organized in 1846, the site was too far from the center to be eligible for county seat. In 1849 Friar sold his store to Crockett Cardwell, who operated the post office, tavern, and stage stop. The first Masonic lodge in the county held its meetings in the upper part of the store building from 1850 to 1852. The old building was occupied as a home until 1894 and was finally torn down in 1916.