Amenthal

Duane's take

The way the marker tells it, here's the story of a place called Amenthal. An Irish craftsman named Laurence H. Wall built this home in 1882 and 1883, out in what was then called Pittsburg, a place that would later be annexed by Blanco.

And he didn't haul in some fancy material from far away. He quarried the native stone right there near the site, shaped it, stacked it, and when all was said and done, the total construction cost came to exactly one thousand dollars. Now that number sounds modest, but what that stone house would go on to carry, in terms of history, is something else entirely.

In 1887, a man named John Wilson Baines and his wife Ruth Ament Huffman purchased the home. They gave it a name, Amenthal, and that name stuck. What the marker wants you to know about John Wilson Baines and Ruth Ament Huffman is this: they would become the grandparents of Lyndon Baines Johnson.

Let that settle for a moment. The family eventually left in 1904, and the house changed ownership several times after that, the way old stone houses do, passing through different hands, gathering different stories. Then in 1918, a man named Andrew J.

Wagner purchased it. Two years later, he was elected county sheriff. The house stayed in the Wagner family all the way until 1943.

Native stone, Irish craftsmanship, a thousand dollars, and a family tree that would one day reach the White House. Not bad for a house in Pittsburg.

What the marker says

Constructed of native stone quarried near the site, this home was built in 1882-83 in Pittsburg (later annexed by Blanco) by Irish craftsman Laurence H. Wall. The total construction cost was $1,000. John Wilson Baines and his wife Ruth Ament Huffman (later grandparents of Lyndon Baines Johnson) purchased the home in 1887 and named it Amenthal. The house changed ownership several times after the Baines family left in 1904. Andrew J. Wagner purchased it in 1918, two years before he was elected county sheriff. The house remained in the Wagner family until 1943. (1990)