Riley-Enderlin House

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and here's how Duane tells it too. We're talkin' about the Riley-Enderlin House, and this one's got some good bones, literally and figuratively. In 1909, a man named Franz Stein built this simply designed vernacular home, and he built it for Emil H. and Bertha Riley.

Nothing flashy. Side-gabled roof, shed roof front porch, two front doors. That detail about the two front doors tends to stick with people, and we'll get back to it.

The Rileys had themselves a house, and for a few years, that's exactly what it was. Their house. But 1912 came around, and Charles Enderlin, Sr. stepped into the picture.

He purchased the home that year, and from that moment forward, the Riley-Enderlin House became, in every practical sense, an Enderlin house. Charles Enderlin, Sr. was born in 1846 and lived all the way to 1931. A German immigrant.

A Civil War veteran. A man, the marker makes clear, with a large family. And when you've got a large family, you don't just move into a house, you make it work for you.

So Enderlin modified the home soon after he bought it, adjusting things to accommodate everybody under that side-gabled roof. That house stayed in the Enderlin family for over seventy years. Over seventy years.

Franz Stein built it, the Rileys gave it its first name, but the Enderlins gave it its story. Two front doors, plenty of family, and a roof that held through all of it.

What the marker says

This simply designed vernacular home was built in 1909 by Franz Stein for Emil H. and Bertha Riley. In 1912 the home was purchased by Charles Enderlin, Sr. (1846-1931) and remained in the Enderlin family for over seventy years. A German immigrant and Civil War veteran, Enderlin modified the home soon after he bought it to accommodate his large family. Features of the house include its side-gabled roof, shed roof front porch, and two front doors. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1987