Cardwell Home
Lockhart, Caldwell County, Texas
Marker Inscription
John Madison Cardwell (1838-1917) moved to Caldwell county at the age of eighteen. After serving in the Civil War, he returned to Lockhart and opened a mercantile store on the Courthouse Square. He had this home built in 1917, but died before its completion. His wife Martha (Withers) lived here until her death in 1944. An example of the classical revival style, the frame residence has a two-story gallery and eleven-foot ceilings. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1980 Incise in base: Restored by Charles and Carol Haynes - 1979
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
John Madison Cardwell came to Caldwell County as a teenager, served through the Civil War, and returned to Lockhart to open a mercantile store on the courthouse square. In 1917 he commissioned this Classical Revival home with its two-story gallery and eleven-foot ceilings, but died before it was finished; his widow Martha lived here until 1944. The house survives as a graceful emblem of a self-made merchant's rise in a small Texas county seat.
Why it matters
Homes like Cardwell's chart the story of Civil War veterans who rebuilt their lives as small-town merchants and civic pillars in the postwar South.
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Related people
- · John Madison Cardwell
- · Martha Withers Cardwell
Themes & tags
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