Note: This article was originally written for the Northwest Hills Civic Association (NWACA)
About a mile south of the southern tip of our NWACA neighborhood, at 4712 Bull Creek Road, sits a house that dates to before the Civil War. That location was part of the road to Bull Creek, hence the name, and connected with today's FM 2222 which is NWACA's southern border.
In 1979 the house was approved by the Historic Landmark Commission (HLC) to be zoned historic, but the zoning was withdrawn the same month by the city.
Fast forward to today, the current owner has filed a demolition permit with plans to completely raze the property and the neighboring church with the City of Austin's Historic Preservation Office in preparation for another pass at historic zoning to save the building.
Here's some history.
It was built ca. 1859 by James Davis McGary (1803-1880), has 18-foot ceilings and rock walls 18 inches thick; the stone is hand chiseled limestone. There are four fireplaces (two chimneys visible from outside) and the hall, an enclosed dog run, is 40 feet in length and ten feet wide. I have not been inside the house yet, so some details here from the HLC documents.
In 1979 the W.H. Passon Historical Society (Austin-based organization dedicated to preserving African American history) said the house was "an example of slave labor used in building [construction]" and deserved preservation. The connection to enslaved persons in worth a closer look.
McGary came to Austin from Missouri ca. 1859. In 1860 he registered his cattle brand; Barkley (History of Travis County and Austin) says it was one of the first in Travis County. Also in 1860 he is listed in the Travis County "slave schedules", having enslaved 12 people.
The location is in close proximity (about a mile) to two other historic properties with ties to enslaved peoples.
The Moore-Hancock farmstead, 4811 Sinclair Ave, was built ca. 1849, and thought to be Austin's last remaining log cabin on its original site. The property was purchased by Judge John Hancock in 1866.1 While a Unionist who opposed Texas's secession, he also enslaved people. He is listed in the 1860 "slave schedule" (the same year as McGary), having enslaved 15 persons. While Judge Hancock probably never lived there, it is believed several of his enslaved Black half-brothers did after the Civil War: Orange and his family, Rubin, Salem, and Payton Hancock. (Texas Beyond History)(Moore-Hancock Farmstead website)
The other property, also about a mile+ distant, is 4101 Medical Parkway. That too is thought to have been used by peoples enslaved by Hancock and built ca. 1848-49. It's a simple two-room stone building with a central fireplace. That building is today part of Heritage Park Office Plaza. (Heritage Society to Give Eight Citations Thursday, The Austin Statesman, Jan 26, 1969), (Rosedale Rambles, 1993 through 1999, Karen Sikes Collins).
These three properties shed light on the darker side of the history of the area of which NWACA is today a part. There is another question that arises: are there descendants of McGary still living with ties to the property? Black descendants of Orange Hancock still visit the Moore-Hancock property. For descendants of enslaved individuals, properties such as these can provide tangible touchstones of identity, ancestral connection, and historical truth; beyond the architectural importance they are worth preserving.
More
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| 4101 Medical Parkway house, thought to have been the quarters of persons enslaved by Hancock |
Historical marker for Moore-Hancock farmstead https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=100082
James and wife Nancy are buried at Oakwood
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/17296445/james_davis-mcgary
1 Some NWACA readers may remember the name Judge John Hancock from previous articles: he was an early owner of land in our neighborhood.
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