Leading up to the Civil War, San Antonio merchant Enoch Jones, who was then the wealthiest man in Texas, acquired one of the overlapping land grants on the south bank of the Medina River. There, he built a fortified ranch house adjacent to the old Ignacio Perez "hacienda" house, locally known as "the Castle on the Medina". Jones opposed secession and believed that his political views would hurt sales at his general store in Main Plaza, so he sold it and dedicated the remainder of his life to building the Castle on the Medina. He died in 1863, and soon thereafter, his estate went into bankruptcy. Most of the land in the Von Ormy area was sold off to pay debts, but Elizabeth Jones and her sister lived in the Castle until the mid-1880s.