Annual Meeting 2007: Waxahachie Tour

Tour of Waxahachie, Texas, Saturday, October 27, 2007

Margaret Culbertson led members on a tour of Waxahachie’s downtown square and a historic residential district. Ms. Culbertson, a former resident of Waxahachie, is currently the Director of the Hirsch Library at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

The tour began at the Rogers Hotel, a Prairie Style hotel of reinforced concrete. It was designed by architect C.D. Hill in 1912. After two hotels on the site burned down, the Rogers was designed to be as fire-resistant as possible.

The hotel anchors one corner of the courthouse square. The Ellis County Courthouse stands at the center of that square. It was designed by James Riely Gordon, though his association is somewhat accidental. The contractor, Otto Kroeger was hired to construct the courthouse and sold Ellis County the plans of his business associate, Gordon. It is unlikely that Gordon visited Waxahachie during the design process or building construction. He had earlier devised five courthouse plans that could be customized by government contractors. Construction progress was reported daily in the local newspaper. The carved stonework on the Richardsonian Romanesque courthouse is a highlight of the building. Carving was supervised by Harry Herley, a German craftsman who emigrated to Texas in 1890. A local legend that the carved faces chronicle Herley’s unrequited love affair persists. The uglification of the faces supposedly mirrors Herley’s increasing dissatisfaction with a local girl which did not return his affection. The accuracy of this legend cannot be confirmed, however.

In addition to the Rogers Hotel and the Ellis County Courthouse, the square is home to the Citizen’s National Bank, built in 1894, and Oddfellows’ Hall, built in 1895, and the Webb Gallery (see Craig Bunch’s review of the Webb Gallery below).

The tour continued along W. Main St. to a residential neighborhood which largely developed after Trinity University moved to Waxahachie in 1902, diversifying the local economy. Ms. Culbertson noted a number of houses that exemplify the local style. L-plan and T-plan houses were typical, as was gingerbread carpentry. Notable houses included the Rogers bungalow, built in 1915, the Chostka House, built in 1904, a house on 711 with decorative relief in terracotta, and Prairie Style houses at 700 and 705. The Anderson house and servants’ quarters, built for $32,000 in 1924, was profiled in the Dallas Morning News. The Harrison House at 717 was built out of red birch for an English bride. Mr. Harrison visited daily to see construction of “the most solidly built house in Waxahachie.”

The tour continued down W. Jefferson, where the group saw a perfect example of an American foursquare, two-story bungalow. On W. Jefferson, the tour passed the back of the Sims Library, the front of which was seen on W. Main. The Library was built in 1905 on land donated by the publisher of the local newspaper. A theater was tucked into the curved rear wall.

Two of the buildings on the tour once sheltered famous American characters. Ty Cobb stayed at the Rogers Hotel, as did many baseball players during spring training in the teens and twenties. Mary Spaulding, who served as the model for the protagonist in Robert Benton’s Places in the Heart, ran a two-story boarding house in the neighborhood.

Ms. Culbertson also suggested that visitors see the Waxahachie City Cemetary and the octagonal Chatauqua Auditorium, built in 1902, while in town.

The tour culminated with a visit to the Webb Gallery.

Catherine Essinger
University of Houston