Hezikiah Haskell House
Austin, Travis County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The community of Clarksville is an early freedman’s community that was established after the Civil War. Freed slave Charles Clark founded the community in 1871 as a place where former slaves could reunite with their family members, direct their own lives and openly practice their religion for the first time. Peter Tucker, a former slave, purchased land from real estate speculators around 1875. It is believed he built the home around 1879. Between 1879 and 1887 Mary and Edwin Smith purchased the home. Later, Hezikiah Haskell, a union soldier and “buffalo soldier,” and a member of the black cavalry boarded with the Smiths and later married their daughter Catherine. In 1892, the Smiths deeded the home to their daughter. After the death of Hezikiah Haskell, Jr. In 1976, the home was deeded to the city of Austin and used as a senior lunch program site for a number of years. The Hezikiah Haskell house is a cumberland-style, single-wall construction, board and batten home with double separated front doors. The house sits on its original location and maintains a high degree of physical integrity. The exterior is unpainted board and batten and the roof is of rough-hewn cedar shingle shakes. The floor plan is unaltered, although rooms were added to the back. They no longer stand, but a few original windows and some of the square nails used for construction still exist. The Hezikiah Haskell house stands as a reminder of Clarksville’s historic and cultural roots and of the struggles of the people who moved there to live in freedom after years of servitude and separation. Clarksville is listed on the national register of historic places as a historic district. RECORDED TEXAS HISTORIC LANDMARK – 2012
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Clarksville was founded in 1871 by freed slave Charles Clark as a place where former slaves could reunite their families, govern their own lives, and worship freely after emancipation. Around 1879 former slave Peter Tucker built this board-and-batten Cumberland-style house, later home to Hezikiah Haskell—a Union soldier and Buffalo Soldier who married into the family. Standing on its original site with high physical integrity, the house was deeded to the city of Austin and recorded as a Texas Historic Landmark in 2012.
Why it matters
The Haskell House is a rare surviving anchor of one of Texas's oldest freedmen's communities, testifying to Black Austinites' pursuit of freedom and self-determination after slavery.
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Related people
- · Hezikiah Haskell
- · Charles Clark
- · Peter Tucker
- · Catherine Smith Haskell
Related events
- · Founding of Clarksville freedmen's community (1871)
Themes & tags
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