Schuster Home

Duane's take

The way I hear it, this story comes straight off the official marker for the Schuster Home in Brazoria County, and I'll tell it to you just as it stands. Now settle in, because good craftsmanship deserves a proper telling. Back in 1915, a man named George Schuster purchased a piece of land that was part of the Freeport town site.

He let it sit two years, the way a man with a plan does, and then in 1917, the building began. George didn't hire strangers for the job. He put his sons to work.

Manuel, Henry, and Joe, all experienced carpenters, raised a two-story home on that land, and they built it to last. We know that because it's still standing. The foundation rested on heavy cedar tree blocks.

The porch wrapped all the way around, supported by large tapered columns, floored in pine. Two enclosed chimneys ran along the ridge of that two-story roof, keeping the family warm in the early years before the city had natural gas available. And the walls, the walls were covered in milled cypress wood, which made this home one of Freeport's first and most well-constructed wooden structures.

That's not my opinion. That's the record. When George Schuster and his wife passed, the house could have scattered to the wind the way family property sometimes does.

But Joe and his wife, Valentine, had been living right there in a small house in the backyard, close enough to keep an eye on things. In 1951, they purchased the family home from the Schuster estate. Joe eventually died, and Valentine stayed on.

She lived in that house until 1981. After Valentine's death, her children made sure the house remained in its original state. Much of the original furniture is still used today, some of it over a hundred years old.

Now here's where the story takes a turn toward something bigger. In 2003, Schuster descendants established the Schuster House Corporation. That corporation placed the home into the care of the Brazos Historical Society, which undertook a ten-year restoration.

With donations, membership dues, and community help, the Schuster home was completely restored to its original state and opened to the public as a museum. What George Schuster's sons built with their own hands in 1917 is tangible evidence, the marker's own words, of one of the earliest homes in Freeport still in existence. Three brothers, a family that stayed close, and a community that decided it was worth savin'.

That's a house that earned its story.

What the marker says

The Schuster home was built in 1917 on land purchased by George Schuster in 1915. This land was part of the Freeport town site. The home was built primarily by George Schuster's sons, Manuel, Henry, and Joe, all experienced carpenters. The two-story home was built on heavy cedar tree blocks with large tapered columns and supported by a wraparound pine floor porch. Two enclosed chimneys along the ridge of the two-story home provided heat in the early years prior to the city's available use of natural gas. The walls are covered with milled cypress wood, making the home one of Freeport's first and most well-constructed wooden structures. After George and his wife's death, Joe and his wife, Valentine, who lived in a small house in the backyard, purchased the family home from the Schuster estate in 1951. Valentine continued to live in the home after Joe's death until 1981. Her children continued to maintain the house in its original state after her death. Much of the original furniture is still used today, some of which is over 100 years old. Schuster descendants established the Schuster house corporation in 2003. The corporation then placed the home into the care of the Brazos historical society which undertook a 10-year restoration of the house. With donations, membership dues and community help, the Schuster home was completely restored to its original state and opened to the public as a museum. This historic home is tangible evidence of one of the earliest homes in Freeport still in existence.