Caldwell-Kone-Hyatt House
San Marcos, Hays County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Robert M. Caldwell (1836-84), son of pioneer Texas colonists, built this house in 1869. His wife, Mary, was a sister of Col. E. M. House (1858-1938), advisor to U. s. President Woodrow Wilson. Acquired in 1874 by the Kone family, the residence was occupied by Rebecca Pitts (Mrs. Samuel Reid) Kone (1828-1910). Her son, Edward Rives Kone (1848-1933), was Hays County judge for 26 years before his election as state agriculture commissioner in 1908. Kone heirs sold the home to Mr. and Mrs. Bob Hyatt in 1961. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1975
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Robert M. Caldwell, son of pioneer Texas colonists, built this San Marcos house in 1869. His wife was a sister of Edward M. House, the shadowy "Colonel House" who became President Woodrow Wilson's closest confidential adviser. The Kone family owned it from 1874, among them Edward Rives Kone, a long-serving county judge who won election as state agriculture commissioner in 1908.
Why it matters
Through its families the house touches the highest circles of American power, linking a small Texas town to the man who helped guide Wilson through World War I.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
When Robert M. Caldwell built this house in 1869, Texas was in the middle of Reconstruction. The Civil War had ended only four years earlier, the state was being brought back into the Union, and families across Texas were rebuilding their fortunes and their lives. Putting up a substantial home in those years was a vote of confidence in the future.
San Marcos grew up beside the clear, spring-fed San Marcos River on the edge of the Texas Hill Country, where the prairie meets the limestone uplands of the Balcones Escarpment. It was a market town for the surrounding farms and ranches, and in the decades after the war it gradually grew into a county seat with schools, churches and, later, a state teachers' college.
The house's long life covers a sweeping arc, from Reconstruction through the Gilded Age and into the Progressive Era. In those years Texas went from a frontier state to one with a growing role in national politics and agriculture, and this one San Marcos home brushes against both.
People & events
Robert M. Caldwell, born in 1836 to pioneer Texas colonists, built the home. His family belonged to the generation that settled Texas before statehood. His wife, Mary, had a brother who would become one of the most influential behind-the-scenes figures in American history: Edward M. House, known as "Colonel" House. The title was honorary, not military. House was born in Houston and made his name first as a shrewd manager of Texas political campaigns, then as President Woodrow Wilson's closest confidential adviser. He served as Wilson's trusted go-between in diplomacy during World War I and the peace negotiations that followed, though the two men eventually fell out.
In 1874 the house passed to the Kone family and became the home of Rebecca Pitts Kone, widow of Samuel Reid Kone. Her son Edward Rives Kone served as Hays County judge for 26 years, a remarkable stretch of local public service. In 1908 he was elected state agriculture commissioner, which took a San Marcos judge onto the statewide stage at a time when the state was giving new attention to agriculture.
The Kone family held the house for more than eight decades. In 1961 their heirs sold it to Mr. and Mrs. Bob Hyatt, whose name completes the house's three-family title. In 1975 it was named a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark.
Its place in the American story
Few small-town houses can trace a family thread to the White House. Through Mary Caldwell's brother, this San Marcos home is linked to Colonel House, who helped steer American diplomacy during World War I and was among Wilson's key advisers during the making of the peace that followed. It's a reminder that national power often grew out of tightly knit regional networks, and in House's case those networks were Texan.
Edward Rives Kone's career tells a different but equally American story. In the Progressive Era, states built new agencies to support farmers with scientific methods, better information and regulation, and agriculture was the backbone of the Texas economy. Kone's move from a long county judgeship to statewide agriculture commissioner reflects that shift toward a more active, organized government.
Together, the families who lived here show how one house in a Texas river town tied into the large forces of their time: pioneer settlement, Reconstruction, Progressive reform and America's arrival as a world power.
If you visit
Look at the house as a document of 1869 building. Notice its proportions, materials and setting, and think about what it meant to build a home of this kind in a Texas town just after the Civil War. Homes from that era that have survived this long are increasingly rare, and this one has passed through just three family names in more than a century.
Please remember that a historic home may be a private residence. Enjoy it from the street or sidewalk unless it's clearly open to visitors, and respect the owners' privacy.
San Marcos makes an easy stop on the corridor between Austin and San Antonio. Pair this house with a walk around the historic downtown square and time along the spring-fed San Marcos River, the waters that drew settlers here in the first place. It's a good way to see how a small town's homes, families and landscape fit together.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · Robert M. Caldwell
- · Edward M. House
- · Woodrow Wilson
- · Edward Rives Kone
Themes & tags
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