Reinhardt Homestead

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Out in Montgomery County, there's a piece of land with a story rooted so deep it grew right up through the floorboards. Conrad Reinhardt, born in 1886, bought this property in 1918.

Now that right there is the first act. A man sees a stretch of ground, and something in him says: this is the place. He bought it, and he got to work.

Around 1920, Conrad built a house. And here's the part worth savoring. He didn't go order up lumber from some distant mill.

He cut the timber right there from the property's own trees. Heart of pine and magnolia, felled and shaped and raised into walls and a roof on the very ground they once shaded. The house came up in the bungalow style, with a hipped roof and a three-bay porch, tapered columns sitting on brick piers.

The kind of porch that says: we are staying. And staying they were. Conrad and his wife, Lillie Bell Freeman, born in 1894, raised a family in that house.

They lived there together until their deaths, Conrad in 1969, Lillie Bell in 1970. The homestead they built didn't stop at the house, either. A garage, two barns, three shed structures.

A whole working complex, assembled piece by piece over a life well-planted. Some families leave behind words. The Reinhardts left behind a homestead cut from their own trees, and it's still standing right there in Montgomery County to prove it.

What the marker says

Conrad Reinhardt (1886-1969) bought this property in 1918 and established this homestead where he and his wife, Lillie Bell Freeman (1894-1970), raised a family and lived until their deaths. Built about 1920 of heart of pine and magnolia lumber cut from the property's trees, the house reflects the bungalow style in its hipped roof and three-bay porch with tapered columns on brick piers. A garage, two barns, and three shed structures complete the complex. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1991