Detail from Augustus Koch,
Austin, State Capital of Texas, 1887.
Austin History Center, Austin Public Library.
For the full map, click
here.
Two grand houses have turned up. On the southwest corner is the
Sampson Home, built by George and Mary
Goodwin Sampson in 1875, three years after they were married in the
Governor's Mansion nearby. They
had met there while George was visiting Mary's uncle,
Governor E.J. Davis.
The house was made of native
limestone quarried near Bull Creek and hand-cut at this site. It featured one of the first
complete indoor plumbing systems in the city.
To its north is the white frame home of the Henricks family, headed by George Sampson's
partner and brother-in-law, Abram Henricks. At this point the
residents at the Henricks House included Abram Henricks' daughter, Nell
Henricks Burke; her husband, Major J.W. Burke; and their three young sons. The youngest
of the three, Jerome, was born in August 1887, the same year this drawing was made. Within three years, the
Burkes would move to a new home a few blocks away, at
1310 San Antonio.
References: Sue Brandt McBee, Austin: The Past Still Present, Heritage
Society of Austin, 1975, pg.78; Peter Flagg Maxson, "The Joseph & Nellie Henricks
Burke House," unpublished paper, 2002; 1887-88 City Directory, Austin
History Center, Austin Public Library; Tombstone of Jerome H. Burke, Austin
Memorial Park Cemetery.
