Fulton-Bruhl House

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and here's how I'm passin' it along to you. Out on the Texas coast, in Rockport, there stands a house that has been watching the world go by since about 1868. That's not a typo.

Eighteen sixty-eight. When this vernacular early Texas home went up, the paint on the whole state of Texas was still pretty much wet. It was built in that plain, honest style folks called vernacular, meaning it wasn't putting on airs, but it had good bones and it knew it.

Greek Revival elements in the lines, Italianate porch supports holding up their end of the bargain, a five-bay entrance wide enough to make an impression, and oversized dormers looking out over everything like a pair of raised eyebrows. This house had a face, and it had opinions. Then, in 1872, a man named James C.

Fulton walked up and bought it. The marker calls him a noted early business and civic leader, and you get the feeling that is not an overstatement. Fulton was the kind of man a town organizes itself around.

He lived in that house, did whatever noted civic leaders do, and the years stacked up. Then comes 1907, and here is where the story takes a quiet but satisfying turn. Fulton sold the home to his son-in-law, a man named Albert L.

Bruhl. Albert was a pharmacist, which already tells you something about a man's patience and precision. He was also a civic leader in his own right, and he served three terms as mayor of Rockport.

Three terms. The town kept asking, and Albert Bruhl kept saying yes. After that sale in 1907, the house settled into Bruhl family hands, and it has stayed there.

The marker notes it remained in the Bruhl family for over eight decades. That five-bay entrance, those Italianate porch supports, those oversized dormers still watching the street. Some houses just know how to stick around.

What the marker says

Built about 1868, this vernacular early Texas home was purchased in 1872 by James C. Fulton, a noted early business and civic leader. Fulton sold the home in 1907 to his son-in-law, Albert L. Bruhl, a pharmacist and civic leader who served three terms as mayor of Rockport. The home exhibits Greek Revival elements and features Italianate porch supports, a five-bay entrance, and oversized dormers. It has remained in the Bruhl family for over eight decades. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1988