HistoricSiteMarkers
Reconstruction & Gilded Age

Compton-Zapp House

Fayetteville, Fayette County, Texas

Marker Inscription

This property has been owned by a number of Fayetteville residents over the years, including William Compton, Dr. Jethro Jackson, Antone and Minnie Pohl, and Hugo Zapp, Sr. Dr. Jackson was a charter member of the Fayetteville Masonic Lodge, and Hugo Zapp was a prominent merchant. This home dates to the 19th century, and its central hall plan is typical of Texas vernacular homes of the time. It remained in the Zapp family from 1865 until 1945. Recorded Texas Historical Landmark-1985.

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

This central-hall home reflects the plain, practical style Texans favored in the 19th century. It passed among a series of Fayetteville families—including a charter member of the local Masonic lodge and the prominent merchant Hugo Zapp—and remained in the Zapp family from 1865 until 1945.

Why it matters

Vernacular homes like this preserve the everyday architecture and family continuity that defined small-town Texas life.

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Related people

  • · William Compton
  • · Jethro Jackson
  • · Hugo Zapp, Sr.

Themes & tags

Nearby & related markers

Zapp Building

Fayetteville, TX

German immigrant Hugo Zapp opened his mercantile business in Fayetteville in 1865, and after fire destroyed his wooden store he had this two-story brick building erected in 1900. Meant to be the finest structure in town, its Romanesque revival design features decorative brickwork laid in a striking checkerboard pattern. In 1915 merchant F. C. Knippel bought the store, and his family ran it for more than fifty years.

Site of Svrcek Garage

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Frank Svrcek's 1890s building on the Fayetteville square found its calling in the automobile age, housing Walter Meinen's Chevrolet dealership in the 1920s and later a garage where customers drove in the tin doors and out the back. After World War II, Willie Svrcek returned home to reopen the family building as Svrcek Garage, adding fuel pumps and a concrete floor, and even carving out space for an appliance shop. It served as a feed store before being razed in 2012.

Site of Svrcek Building

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An 1890s commercial building on Fayetteville's square anchored a corner of small-town life through the twentieth century, its false front and double doors sheltering a succession of businesses. Owned by the Svrcek family until 1979, it housed the Meith brothers' meat market in the 1920s and two beloved cafés—the Mynar and Evelyn's—before fading into storage. Vacant at last, it was razed in 2012, leaving only this marker.

Sarrazin Store

Fayetteville, TX

German immigrant brothers Edward and Leopold Sarrazin opened a mercantile in Fayetteville in 1875 and moved it into this building in 1890. Under one roof they sold groceries, dry goods, and hardware up front, kept feed, wagons, and farm equipment in the rear warehouse, and even raised chickens in the yard to ship to Houston by rail. Passed from Leopold to Edward and on to Edward Jr., the store thrived with as many as eighteen clerks until it finally closed in 1967.