Forsgard House
Waco, McLennan County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Forsgard House Samuel Johan Forsgard (d. 1912) came to Texas from Sweden in 1855. Two years later, he married Mary C. Johnson (or Jonsson) (d. 1897) and moved to Waco. Their son, Edward Ferdinant "Fuzzy" (1870-1941), married Anna Marie Weaver (1877-1963), and he and his father designed this home, which was built by Swedish carpenters and completed in 1908. Samuel lived in a small house built behind the larger home, where Edward and Anna raised five daughters and one son, who like his father and grandfather before him, was an expert marksman. Samuel and Edward were both Special Texas Rangers, and Edward held the 1908 world title in trapshooting. He and his father were also inventors. Anna, also known as Annie, or "Queenie" to the doctors she assisted, dedicated her life to sharing, giving food and drink to many at the back door. A log in the back yard served as a table for the travelers and as a storytelling venue for the Forsgard men. In addition to Samuel's house, the Forsgard's lot included a hull house, where the hulls from the family's cotton farm were dumped for their many animals, including cows, horses, dogs, pigs, chickens, pigeons and deer. Two barns housed the feed and the animals, as well as the family's surrey, or buggy. Family servants lived in a small house, once a part of the barn. The main house is a modified ell, designed in the Queen-Anne style with Classical columns and decorative shingling at the roof gable end. The porch, modified in 1930, features a low, solid wall, reportedly added to hide the legs of women and girls as they sat on the porch. Today, the house remains an architectural landmark of Waco's history. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2002
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Swedish immigrant Samuel Forsgard reached Texas in 1855 and settled in Waco, where his son Edward 'Fuzzy' — a world trapshooting champion in 1908 — helped design this Queen Anne home, built by Swedish carpenters and finished that same year. Both men served as Special Texas Rangers and tinkered as inventors, while Anna 'Queenie' Forsgard fed travelers at the back door beside a storytelling log.
Why it matters
The Forsgard house embeds the story of Scandinavian immigration into central Texas, showing how a Swedish family's craftsmanship and frontier grit became woven into a city's architectural heritage.
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Related people
- · Samuel Johan Forsgard
- · Edward Ferdinant 'Fuzzy' Forsgard
- · Anna Marie Weaver Forsgard
Themes & tags
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