The Burke-Henricks house was buit in 1890 as a home for the family of Major J. W. Burke, a former
Pennsylvanian who had served for the Union in the Civil War. At that time the Major had been married
for six years to Nell Henricks Burke (daughter of prominent Austin merchant Abram Henricks and
his wife Rachel), and they had three sons, aged 5, 3, and 1.
All went well for the Burkes for more than twenty years. Major Burke served as the Internal Revenue
Collector for Austin under President Harrison, and was a delegate to the Republican National Convention in 1892.
The boys grew up working at local businesses, and the older two eventually moved on.
Tragedy struck in 1913, when the oldest son, J.W. Burke Junior, drowned in a mysterious accident in Oklahoma
City at the age of 28. He was buried in
Oakwood Cemetery, a mile east from his old home. A few months later, his heartstricken father was
buried next to him. The front-page story on Major Burke's death noted, "Although always a
staunch Republican and taking much interest in political matters, his friends found, however, that his
views did not enter his personality or in any way prejudice him. He was widely known and respected by all
who knew him. More than his family mourn his loss."
Nellie stayed in the house till about 1924, and died about a year after she moved out. Within the
next year or two, the home became an apartment house.
In 1927, the Burkes' two surviving sons, Windom and Jerome, sold the old place to Mrs. Clara
Groos Besserer. Clara's roots in Austin were deep; her
grandfather,
Johann Jacob Groos, was a beloved early settler, and she was briefly
married to a member of the famously musical Besserer family before his
premature death. Clara was a stenographer for a prominent Austinite,
W.T. Caswell, who lived on West Avenue. In addition to keeping her day job, Clara
kept tenants at the house continuously through the 30s, 40s, and 50s.
Clara passed away in 1964 at the age of 82. Her brother, Louis Groos, kept the place going for a short
while. Then other owners took it on. The house was empty in 1965, but the next year
it had five occupied apartments, and by 1971 there were six.
As the seventies wore on, downtown's population fell, and so did the population at the Burke-Henricks
House. There were only two residents left in 1977, and from 1978 through 1980 the house sat vacant.
In 1981, the house stirred back to life, and it stayed about half-occupied through the mid-nineties.
Around 1995, the Texas Association of Counties ("TAC") converted the
entire downstairs to office space, but kept residential tenants living upstairs.
By 2000, the TAC needed to move to larger quarters nearby. To address neighborhood concerns
about their growth plans, the TAC agreed to a covenant prohibiting the demolition of 1310
San Antonio, and requiring that the house be committed to only residential uses.
When the TAC moved out, they sold the building to a new owner, who then tried to sell it to others.
But given the condition the property was in, the new owner had some difficulty in finding anyone
willing to return the house to fully residential use.
After discussions with neighbors, I bought the house in 2002 and launched into remodeling
with the help of a GreenBuilding contractor, Joe Zakes of
Almost Perfect Construction,
and many others. The work was done by late 2003, and the four apartments have been occupied
since then. Today I live here with my girlfriend, Denise Brady; we have the two downstairs apartments, and
the two upstairs are rented out. The house has been through a lot, but it's still at least as
comfortable as it was when the Burkes moved in back in 1890.
- Chris Riley
References: Peter Flagg Maxson, "The Joseph & Nellie Henricks Burke House," unpublished paper, 2002;
"Major W.J. Burke Dies at Home after Short Illness," Austin Statesman, Sept. 27, 1913, pg.1; Katherine Hart,
"Ceremony Set for Old Cemetery" (featuring picture and discussion of Johann Jacob Groos), Austin American-Statesman,
Dec. 14, 1974, reprinted in Waterloo Scrapbook: 1974-75, Friends of the Austin Public Library, 1975, pg.10.
