DUANE
Duane's take
The way the marker tells it, here's what you need to know about the Neill-Cochran House. Now, there are buildings in Texas, and then there are buildings with stories layered so deep you'd need a good while just to get through the first few. This limestone house in Travis County is one of the latter.
It went up around 1853 — Greek Revival architecture, the kind that was typical of the South — and it was erected for a man named Washington L. Hill. The fellow who built it was a master builder by the name of Abner Cook, and Cook did not cut corners.
Those walls are hand-cut limestone, which is a feat in itself. But here's the detail that tends to stop people cold: the mortar holding those stones together was mixed with pig bristles. Not iron, not extra lime, not clever engineering tricks — pig bristles.
And those walls are still standing. You do the math on that one. The house had barely settled into its bones before history came knocking.
In 1856, it became the first Institute for the Blind in the state of Texas. First one. In the whole state.
Then came 1865, and the Civil War pressed everything it could into service — this house included. It became a hospital for soldiers. After the war, the house passed through notable hands.
In 1880, it was home to Colonel Andrew Neill, a patriot of the Republic of Texas. And then from 1893 all the way to 1913, it belonged to Judge Thomas B. Cochran — Bar president, Masonic leader, a man whose name eventually became part of the house itself.
Two decades of Judge Cochran, a Civil War hospital, the state's first school for the blind, and walls held together with something you'd find on a farm — all stacked inside one Greek Revival house on the Texas limestone. Abner Cook built it to last. Turns out, he was right.
What the marker says
Greek Revival architecture, typical of the South. Erected about 1853 for Washington L. Hill by master builder Abner Cook. The hand-cut limestone walls were cemented with a mortar containing pig bristles. First Institute for the Blind in State of Texas, 1856. Hospital for Civil War soldiers, 1865. Home in 1880 of Republic of Texas patriot, Col. Andrew Neill; 1893-1913, Judge Thos. B. Cochran, Bar President, Masonic leader. Recorded Texas Historical Landmark - 1966