Nacogdoches founder Antonio Gil Y’Barbo built a two-story masonry structure on El Camino Real between 1788 and 1791 that over the decades was used as a house, a store, a Mexican barracks, and a saloon. By the late nineteenth century, the city was prospering, and some citizens promoted the removal of the “Old Stone Fort” in the name of progress. The sale of the property in 1901, long owned by the Roberts family, to the Perkins brothers, to be demolished for the construction of their new pharmacy and offices, stirred a statewide debate over patriotism and preservation, with the strongest protest led by women’s organizations. The Perkins brothers donated the building to the Daughters of the Confederacy, and the local Cum Concilio Club took responsibility for demolition, salvage of the stones, and building a reconstruction. By spring 1902 the Stone Fort was gone, and some stones were stored on the square; by September the new Perkins Brothers Pharmacy was opened for business. A small Memorial Building was constructed with the stones on Washington Square about 1906. In 1936 the Texas Centennial Commission sponsored the erection of this replica on the grounds of Stephen F. Austin State University, which was based on old photos and using some of the original stones. The immediate and long-term effect of the loss of this irreplaceable link to the state’s early history inspired the Daughters of the Republic of Texas to undertake the preservation of the missions of San Antonio, beginning with the Alamo.