DUANE
Duane's take
Here's what the official marker has to say about the Adams-Ziller House, and I'll tell it to you straight. Augusta Adams came into this world around 1817 in Mecklenberg, Germany — and by the time her story reaches Texas, she's already a widow making her own way in the world. She immigrated to Texas and in 1857 purchased land right here at this site.
Now, a widow buying land on her own in the mid-nineteenth century — that's a woman who knew exactly what she was about. A decade later, around 1868, this modest structure went up on that very ground she'd claimed for herself. Augusta would later marry a man named Herman Hertel, but the house — the house had a different destiny waitin' on it.
Augusta had two daughters, Mary and Theresa Adams. And here's where the story gets the kind of symmetry that makes you think the world has a sense of humor. Mary and Theresa each married a Ziller brother — August and William — sons of Michael Ziller, one of Austin's earliest settlers.
Two sisters. Two brothers. One house.
The Ziller family held onto this place for nearly a century after that, all the way until 1955. And when the 1990s came around and demolition was starin' this old structure down, somebody decided it wasn't going to end that way. The house was saved.
Still standin'. One story tall, center-passage plan, chimneys risin' on the gable ends, and buff brick laid in a common bond pattern — the same walls Augusta set her life against all those years ago.
What the marker says
Augusta Adams (ca. 1817-1907), a widow and native of Mecklenberg, Germany, immigrated to Texas and purchased land at this site in 1857. This modest structure was constructed circa 1868. Augusta later married Herman Hertel. Her two daughters, Mary and Theresa Adams, married brothers August and William Ziller, sons of one of Austin’s earliest settlers, Michael Ziller. The home remained in the Ziller family until 1955, and was saved from demolition during the 1990s. The one-story residence features a center-passage plan with chimneys on the gable ends, and buff brick laid in a common bond pattern.