ELSTONE, TEXAS. Elstone was near Hondo Creek eight miles southeast of Hondo in south central Medina County. It was probably named after former resident Sarah Elstone Mercereau, a descendant of the Duke of Marlborough, although some believe that Elstone referred to the rocky hilltop bend of the community's main thoroughfare, which formed a perfect L. Elstone had a post office from 1910 until 1917, when mail was routed to Hondo. By 1914 Elstone had a population of fifty, a general store, telephone connections, and a cotton gin, which served the farming community well into the 1920s, when boll weevil infestations devastated area cotton fields. Though there may have been a business at the site as late as 1931, by 1936 Elstone appears to have been abandoned.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Castro Colonies Heritage Association, The History of Medina County, Texas (Dallas: National Share Graphics, 1983). John J. Germann and Myron Janzen, Texas Post Offices by County (1986).
