Meeting: Bathing Beach Project-Attend and Ask City to Relocate the Harris Stagecoach Inn

City of Round Rock Meeting, Monday, August 12, will decide fate of Harris Stagecoach Inn.  Please attend and voice your opinion on the city relocating the Harris Stagecoach Inn to the Bathing Beach Park Project.   This could be our final chance to have our voice heard.  We need a huge attendance at this meeting.  Remember, we can't save the inn unless individuals like you and your family and friends show up to this meeting and we can all let our voices be heard.  Read article below.    Join us for the Bathing Beach Park Project Input Open House Monday, August 12th The City of Round Rock's Parks & Recreation Department is finalizing concepts for the Bathing Beach Park Development Project and we want your input! The Parks and Recreation Department invites residents to a public input open house where information about the City's Bathing Beach Park Project will be discussed and park concepts will be displayed. Rendering of one element of the Bathing Beach Project Representatives from the Parks and Recreation Department and the design consultants will be present. The open house is scheduled to take place Monday, August 12, 2013 at the Grand Ballroom in the Allen R. Baca Community Center, 301 W. Bagdad, Round Rock, TX 78664 from 5:30-8:00pm. The Bathing Beach Park Project is an economic revitalization project located west of Chisholm Trail Road and north of RM620 along Brushy Creek. A section of Brushy Creek in that area was once as a swimming hole in the early days of Round Rock history. We thank you in advance for your interest and participation. For questions regarding this meeting, please contact: Aileen Dryden, Park Development Specialist, at 512.341.3375 or adryden@roundrocktexas.gov. To view additional renderings of the Bathing Beach Project, click here.

Sincerely, Round Rock Parks & Recreation Department

Save the Round Rock, TX Chisholm Trail Stagecoach Inn: Round Rock Stagecoach Inn-Family of J J Harris

Save the Round Rock, TX Chisholm Trail Stagecoach Inn: Round Rock Stagecoach Inn-Family of J J Harris: Family of John James Harris The Old Stagecoach Inn (Harris Stagecoach Inn) was built on a hill overlooking Brushy Creek in Round Rock, ...

Save the Round Rock, TX Chisholm Trail Stagecoach Inn: Update Meetings with City of Round Rock Staff, 30 ...

Save the Round Rock, TX Chisholm Trail Stagecoach Inn: Update Meetings with City of Round Rock Staff, 30 ...:   U-Shaped Sitting Area to the south end of the Old Stagecoach Inn UPDATE WITH CITY STAFF (30 Apr 2013) On Tuesday afternoon, Shirley ...

Update Meetings with City of Round Rock Staff, 30 April 2013

 
U-Shaped Sitting Area to the south end of the Old Stagecoach Inn

UPDATE WITH CITY STAFF (30 Apr 2013)

On Tuesday afternoon, Shirley Marquardt (local preservationist) visited the City of Round Rock Historic Preservation Office and the City of Round Rock Parks and Recreation Department to check for updates on the status of Old Statecoach Inn.

Meeting between Shirley Marquardt & Joelle Jordan (Senior Planner-512-218-5422) & Kerstin Harding (Planner Technician-514-218-5421).  The City of Round Rock now owns the Old Stage Coach Inn building.   The Historic Preservation Office (Kerstin Harding) has collected some history on the inn and will share the info with us. The Historic Preservation Office has a list of contractors, who have the capability of moving the Old Stage Coach Inn.  The Historic Preservation Office did informally check with one of these contractors, who stated the cost to move the structure could range between $75,000-$125,000.  Joelle mentioned one shortfall in the past in accomplishing Historic Preservation Projects within Round Rock is the lack of a nonprofit organization whose charter is to further historic preservation in the City and who could help raise funds or assist with historic preservation projects. If the city moves the structure, the city has to have a firm use for the building.  Any ideas?  Could the purpose be a tourist info center, a bath house, a restaurant, a snack bar, a museum, or have another purpose.

The City is currently accepting applications for members of the City’s Historic Preservation Commission.  Application deadline is May 15, 2013. Application forms are available on the City’s website. 

Meeting between Shirley Marquardt & David Buzzell (Parks DevelopmentManager, 512-341-3345).  The master plan for the City’s Beach Project does include a footprint location for the Old Stagecoach Inn at the proposed Beach Area.  Mr. Buzzell stated he believes members of the Round Rock City Council basically like the idea of moving the Stagecoach Inn to the Beach Area; however, the one issue is funding for the project.  Another option discussed at the city is using the stones from the Old Stagecoach Inn on another structure; possibly in the beach area.  The Parks Departments expects to schedule a special meeting with the City Council prior to the end of May 2013 to give an update on the project.  The meeting will be posted on the City's website.

Questions for us:  How do we obtain the City Council's approval to fund the movement of the Stagecoach Inn?  What is our proposed use for the structure if it is moved to the Beach Area?
Can we form a group and be a deciding force to help the City make the appropriate decision on the future of the Old Stagecoach Inn.  Please share your ideas.

 

Round Rock Stagecoach Inn-Family of J J Harris

Family of John James Harris

The Old Stagecoach Inn (Harris Stagecoach Inn) was built on a hill overlooking Brushy Creek in Round Rock, Texas, by John James Harris from 1848-1953.

John James Harris (J. J. Harris) married Susannah E. Tisdale about 1841 or 1842 in Simpson, Kentucky.  John James Harris was born on May 15, 1819, in Simpson, Kentucky, and died on December 1, 1906 in Erath, Texas, at the age of 87.  Susannah E. Tisdale was born in Virgina on May 13, 1823 and proceeded John in death on July 12, 1890, at the age of 66.

John Harris was a Confederate Soldier in 1961 according to Ancestry.com.  Susannah is buried in the Old Round Rock Cemetery.  According to the census records John and Susannah had seven children:

-           George Washington Harris (1842-1935)

  -          Alexander S. Harris (February 12, 1844-January 29, 1908); buried in Old RR Cemetery
  -          John G. (Jack) Harris (1845-1926)
  -          Nathan H. Harris (1848-____)
  -          Joseph P. Harris (1849-1932)
  -          Nora S. Harris (1858-____)
  -          Dera Harris (November 27, 1874-May 7, 1900); buried in Old RR Cemetery

 If any of the above information is in error, please let us know.  Also share information if you can add more date and information on the John James Harris family.  We would love to obtain a photo of the Harris family and other families who lives in the Old Stagecoach Inn  over the years.

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J. J. Harrell Headright League of Land

LAND RECORDS

ROUND ROCK OLD STAGECOACH INN

A Headright League of Land in Texas is land granted to individuals to build a tax base and to encourage settlement in the new Republic of Texas.   A league of land is defined as 4,428.4 acres or 13,889 feet square.  The amount of land granted was dependent upon numerous factors such as date the immigrant arrived in Texas (before 1836 or after 1836), whether the immigrant was a veteran, and other criteria.

As far as I can determine, the Round Rock Old Stagecoach Inn (Harris Stagecoach Inn) is located on a portion of the Jacob M. Harrell Headright League of Land.  According to deed records at Williamson County, numerous transfers of deeds for portions of the J. M. Harrell Headright League transpired over the years.  As a novice, I had difficulty trying to follow the grantor/grantee trail of records.  If there is someone out there that can improve on the information I am sharing with you, I would welcome the assistance and the refinement of information.

According to written records, we know that John James Harris (or J. J. Harris) built the Old Statecoach Inn in Round Rock between 1848-1853.  I couldn’t track the land records back to 1848.  Here are some deed transactions that appear to be related to the land where the Old Stagecoach Inn is located.

25Aug1853    Jacob M. Harrell to Thomas C. Oatts

14Mar1863    Thomas C. Oatts to J. J. Harris (2.5 ac, Harrell J.M., Headright League, Town of RR)
14Apr1863     Thomas C. Oatts to J. J. Harris

1877                Alexander Harris & Jack Harris jointly owned one house & stone stable.   (Can anyone tell me how Jack Harris was related to J. J. Harris.  In Census Records, I couldn’t find Jack Harris listed as one of the children of J. J. Harris)

05Mar1877     Alexander Harris to Jack Harris

09Jan1880      J. J.  Harris to Jack & Anna Harris

03Dec1906     C. A. Carlson to Alexendar Harris (Document of Conveyance)

27Feb1907     Jack Harris to M. D. & Ella Surber

11Mar1907    F. M. Harrell to B. C. & Henrietta Richards

27Jun1907    M. D. Surber to B. C. Richards

11Apr1932    B. C. Richards to Donald Joseph

15Mar1941      Donald Joseph to Harold & Sue Richards

11May1956     Sue Cox Richards (Widow) to J. O. & Mary B. Barger

06Jun1957      Sue Cox Richards to J. O.  Barger

11Mar1960    J. O. Barger to Donald B. & Laura M. Davol

31Mar1966   Donald B. Davol to Laura M. Davol (AssignmentTransfer)

27Jan1984    Laura M. (Davol) Bemis to Bedico Prop Ltd (Donald Hughes Trustee)

12Jun1887   Bedico Prop Ltd to George Transom III (1.022 ac)

Couldn’t track land records for certain after 12 Jun 1887.  (Can anyone fill in the gap on land owners?)

2013            City of Round Rock purchased the land.  (Can anyone give us a date?) 

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Dry Stack Rock Retaining Wall

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 DRY-STACK ROCK WALL

ROUND ROCK OLD STAGECOACH INN

A dry-stack rock retaining wall encloses the spacious yard around the Stagecoach Inn.

 

While the Round Rock Stagecoach Inn (Harris Stagecoach Inn) was built by John James Harris of stone collected from the hill upon which it stands from 1848-1853; the dry-stack rock wall which surrounds the spacious yard by the inn was added years later by V. C. Richards (according to the book, Historical Round Rock, Texas, page 231, authors: Karen R. Thomas and Jane H. DiGesualdo, 1985).  Richards operated a small limestone quarry in the area .  I think V. C. Richards may have been B. C. Richards and his wife Henrietta, who purchased the Stagecoach Inn on March 11, 1907.   Can anyone verify  if V.C. Richards or if B. C. Richards built the retaining walls?

 

 

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