Allen-Fowler House

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. This is the story of the Allen-Fowler House in Bastrop County. It starts, as so many good Texas stories do, with education.

The Bastrop Academy opened in 1851, and the man tapped to run it was Professor William J. Hancock, all the way from Aberdeen, Mississippi. He arrived in early 1852, and right away he did what any sensible headmaster would do.

He built himself a house. Not just for his family, mind you, but for student boarders too, so the place was lively from the start. Then 1857 rolls around, and the Academy transforms itself into the Bastrop Military Institute.

With that change came a change at the top. Colonel R.T.P. Allen stepped in, replacing Hancock, and the Colonel and his wife Julia moved right into that same house.

They kept renting out the back wing to boarding cadets, so the walls of this place had heard a lot of young men figuring out who they were going to be. Now here is where the story leans in a little closer. Sam Houston, one of the most recognizable names in all of Texas history, had sons who were cadets at the Institute.

And on account of that, Houston himself came through those doors as a guest of the Allens. Just let that settle for a moment. The same house.

Then the years moved on, as years do, and in 1876 the property passed to John Preston Fowler, a county attorney who would go on to serve as a state senator. Fowler apparently looked at the place and decided it deserved a little dressing up. He added elaborate jigsawn detailing and a projecting bay window to the two-story modified L-plan house, with its first and second story galleries.

What started as a headmaster's practical shelter had become something genuinely elegant. One house, more than two decades of cadets, a visit from Sam Houston, and a senator's eye for fine woodwork. That is a lot of living packed into one address.

What the marker says

The Bastrop Academy opened in 1851 with Prof. William J. Hancock of Aberdeen, Mississippi as headmaster. He arrived in early 1852 and built this house for his family and student boarders. The Academy became the Bastrop Military Institute in 1857, with Colonel R.T.P. Allen replacing Hancock. Col. Allen and his wife Julia moved into this home and continued to rent out the back wing for boarding cadets. Sam Houston, whose sons were cadets at the Institute, was a guest of the Allens. County attorney and later state senator John Preston Fowler bought the property in 1876. Fowler added elaborate jigsawn detailing and a projecting bay window to this two-story modified L-plan house with first and second story galleries. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2008