The Shipe House

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Monroe Martin Shipe was born in 1847, and if you're the kind of man who's going to leave a mark on a city, well — you ought to start with where you live. In 1892, Shipe had a residence built in Austin's Hyde Park, a suburb he himself developed on the site of the old state fairgrounds.

Let that sink in a moment. The man didn't just move into a neighborhood. He built the neighborhood.

On the very ground where the fairgrounds used to stand. And here's the part that'll stick with you: some of the wood used to construct that house came straight from the old fair grandstand. So the building that once held the crowds became the building that held the family.

That's not just recycling timber — that's a man writing his own continuity. Shipe wasn't content to stop at real estate, either. The marker calls him a man of broad vision, and the record backs that up.

He brought innovative changes to Austin's form of government, to its public transportation system, and to other matters of civic concern — a phrase that covers a lot of Texas ground when you say it slow enough. The Shipe House still stands today, and the marker is plain about what it represents: a monument to his achievements. One man, born in 1847, who looked at a fairground and saw a suburb, looked at old grandstand lumber and saw a home, and looked at a growing city and saw everything that still needed doing.

What the marker says

Monroe Martin Shipe (b. 1847) had this residence built in 1892 in Austin's Hyde Park, a suburb which he developed on the site of the old state fairgrounds. A man of broad vision, Shipe brought innovative changes to the city's form of government, its public transportation system and other matters of civic concern. His home, partially constructed of wood from the fair grandstand, stands as a monument to his achievements. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1982