Trails and Tales of Old Austin and Travis County: Edward H. Rogers Homestead. A Hidden Historic Gem, ca. 1861

The Rogers Homestead is a hidden (literally!) gem in Austin, Texas along the MoPac (old I&GN) railroad tracks, hidden from view by the surrounding modern business development.

The property is located at lat/long may be the easiest way to find it on Google Maps: 30°23′53″N, 97°43′44″W

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Rogers Homestead is located next to the MoPac rails hidden from view. Click to enlarge.

Register of National Historic Places.

The property is on the Register of Historic Places Inventory of the U.S. Department of the Interior National Park Service. Below is quoted from the nomination form, October 29, 1974, and describes the property before restoration.

"The buildings were most probably constructed by Edward H. Rogers at the time of his marriage to Sallie A. Moss in January of 1861 making the structure one of the very few constructed in the Austin area between 1861 and 1865. Rogers and his wife first occupied the house, followed by their son Edward H. Rogers [Jr.] who lived there until his death in 1937. The house appears to have been vacant since that time.

The major significance of the complex lies in its representation of a mid-nineteenth century farm complex. Agriculturally, it is a good example of the many small farmsteads once common in the rural areas around Austin. The significance of the complex in relation to communications is associated with its location on a principal road from Austin to Duval and Bagdad. This road served as a main artery to Burnet and at a later date the Austin and North West and the Illinois (sic; they meant International) and Great Northern Railroad followed the road from Llano to Austin carrying granite for the present state capitol. The farm apparently served as a watering stop for wagons using the road.

The site consists of a three room stone house having a collapsed front porch, two log cribs and open board barn, two cisterns, the remains of a windmill, a recent shed and ruins of a small outbuilding and an addition to the house. It is fenced with a steel stake and barbed wire fence. Horses are presently kept on the property.

The joists are sawn juniper logs supported by plank and limestone sleepers. The floor consists of sawn planks possibly from the Jones and Rogers Mill. Doors are vertical planks held together with a pair of screwed-on wooden muntins. The roof is pine plank on a simple pitched frame on which the ridged metal is nailed.

The house plan consists of three rooms in a line with the middle room having exits to the front and back (closed “dog trot”). Side rooms open to the middle one.

The barn consists of two log crib enclosures and four plank enclosures separated by an open passage. The cisterns are bottle shaped and dry. The windmill frame has collapsed.

The father of Edward H. Rogers was James Burleson Rogers, one of the original settlers of Austin’s Little Colony. Rogers received his grant in 1831 at the mouth of Shoal Creek [where it empties into the Colorado River] and moved it shortly thereafter to its location north of the headwaters of Shoal Creek. Rogers served as an election judge for the Mina [Bastrop] district. Rogers’ brother Joseph was a member of the militia and was killed by Indians in 1837 at Rogers Hill beginning a cemetery at that spot.

Edward H. Rogers married Sallie A. Moss and received a tract from his father from Rogers’ grant, which he inherited officially in 1867 at Rogers death. E. H. and Sallie Rogers had a son Edward H., Jr. who died in 1937.

The house site is located on an abandoned segment of the Bagdad Road opened in the 1840s or 1850s between Austin and Bagdad in Williamson County. This road was a principal road northwest for a considerable time, probably until the 1930s.

The house is in reasonably good condition and is a stone variation of the Texas dog trot cabin, thereby being unique architecturally. The barn is in unusually good condition as are the cisterns. The house is a variation of the two room and hall frontier log cabin common in early Texas having two chimneys. Its style is unlike the early Anglo cabins in its construction and enclosed dog trot and considerably different in its plan from the German settlements. (See Alexander, D.B., 1966, Texas Homes of the Nineteenth Century.)"

Renovation of the Property, ca. 2001

The following expands on the property history, and its restoration ( taken from CarrAmerica Development Preserves Piece of Texas History, retrieved 10/3/2019 from https://www.dpr.com/media/review/fall-2001/carramerica-development-preserves-piece-of-texas-history )

CarrAmerica Development Preserves Piece of Texas History

Historic Homestead Restored on Site of Multi-Use Braker Pointe Project in Austin

"The historic E.H. Rogers Homestead in once rural Travis County has endured the rise of the Republic of Texas, native attacks, statehood, secession, war, recession and the coming of the railroads since it was established in the late 1830s. Today, rather than sharing the fate of numerous other historical sites that have been razed to make way for new development, this slice of history is being preserved and restored even as a new commercial development is constructed adjacent to it.

The careful blending of old and new is the overriding theme on the 40-acre Braker Pointe development in Austin, where DPR is constructing a new nine-story, 220,000-sq.-ft. office building, for CarrAmerica Realty, while also helping restore the old house and barn that comprise the original historic homestead. The multi-use development, as master-planned by Austin planners Richardson Verdoorn, is set in an area known as the “Silicon Hills,” where the high-tech market has generated a new development that now surrounds the old homestead. Braker Pointe will ultimately contain three Class A office buildings with about 365,000 sq. ft. of office space, as well as a hotel and motel.

Although for the last 70 years the property has been largely left to weekend horsemen and ranchers, the E.H. Rogers Homestead is thought to have once been a wagon train stopover and supply outpost for Austin travelers and cattle drives headed north. As part of the Braker Pointe development, approximately 1.5 acres of the original farm has been set aside for the restoration project and will provide a park-like setting for workers and visitors to enjoy, while also experiencing a bit of local history.

Driving the historic preservation efforts at Braker Pointe is Will Shepherd, AIA, vice president and senior project manager for CarrAmerica’s Austin division, a former Heritage Society of Austin president. Shepherd is also the force behind another historic preservation project in which DPR has been involved, the Pioneer Farms Living History Museum in Austin.

CarrAmerica has worked closely with Austin-based restoration consultant Gregory Free & Associates to develop a master plan for the homestead site that would preserve its history and allow new development to take place. According to Free’s document outlining the site’s history and its preservation plan, “The overriding themes of the site’s interpretation are continuity, progress, accommodation, sensitivity, and the blending of old and new, rather than just dwelling on the past.”

The interpretative period on which the historic restoration is based is the “era of railroads,” the decade of 1877-1887. That was a time in which E.H. Rogers became involved in negotiations with the International and Great Northern Railroad as it began to acquire right-of-way through the property. Ultimately, the railroad was built just in front of the Rogers property. A dramatic and functional new feature of the site plan is the reinstatement of the farm road leading from the MOPAC railroad. The reconstructed road aligns with the still existing gates on either side of the railroad. The road will lead from an outdoor dining area planned for the office tower through the center of the site to parking on the southeast, ending in a trailhead that will include interpretive and directional signage. Landscaping will feature informal native plantings along the paths, roses along fences, abundant wildflowers and strategically placed shade trees.

Restoring the site’s two historic, but dilapidated, buildings has involved shoring up their foundations, as well as restoring the original porch and roofs. A primary construction challenge for the DPR team has been locating certain materials used more than 100 years ago that were required for the restoration, such as the original shingles, siding and rough sawn lumber."