Hoggett Home
Junction, Kimble County, Texas
Marker Inscription
First two-story house in county. Built 1877-1879 on the caliche soil, with no foundation, by Civil War veteran B.F. Pepper, who led a wagon train of settlers to Texas from Missouri. Since 1905 in family of Dr. R.H.P. Wright. The girlhood home of Fay Wright, 1941-1947, First Lady of Texas, as wife of Governor Coke Stevenson. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1965.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Built between 1877 and 1879 on caliche soil without a foundation, this was the first two-story house in Kimble County, raised by Civil War veteran B.F. Pepper, who had led a wagon train of settlers to Texas from Missouri. In the family of Dr. R.H.P. Wright since 1905, it was the girlhood home of Fay Wright, who as wife of Governor Coke Stevenson became First Lady of Texas in the 1940s.
Why it matters
From a pioneer's wagon-train homestead to the childhood home of a governor's wife, the house threads the full climb of a frontier county from raw settlement to a place in state affairs.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
In the 1870s Kimble County, in the western Hill Country, was about as close to the frontier as Texas got. The county had only just been organized, and settlement was sparse. Families were drawn to the valleys of the Llano River country, where Junction grew up near the meeting of the river's North and South forks.
Life there was rough, and most early homes were modest one-story houses built from whatever materials were close at hand. So a two-story house raised between 1877 and 1879 was a real statement. It was the first of its kind in the county, a sign that someone meant to stay and build something lasting.
The ground itself tells part of the story. The house stands on caliche, the hard, pale, lime-rich layer common across this part of Texas. It was built with no foundation at all, resting directly on that stony earth, a practical choice suited to local conditions and materials.
People & events
The builder was B. F. Pepper, a Civil War veteran who had already done something remarkable before he ever laid a board here. He led a wagon train of settlers from Missouri to Texas, a long and demanding journey that required leadership, endurance, and the trust of the families who followed him.
In 1905 the house passed into the family of Dr. R. H. P. Wright, and it remained in that family for generations. A doctor in a small, remote Hill Country town was a central figure in the community, and the home became part of that family's life in Junction.
It was here that Fay Wright grew up. She later married Coke Stevenson, a Junction-area rancher and lawyer who rose through Texas politics and became governor. As his wife, Fay Wright Stevenson became First Lady of Texas, and the girlhood home of a Kimble County doctor's daughter became part of the state's political story.
Its place in the American story
The Hoggett Home traces a very American arc in a single house. It begins with the westward movement, when families followed a wagon train to new country and a veteran built a home on the frontier just a generation after the Civil War. It ends in the twentieth century with a daughter of that same small town at the center of state public life.
Coke Stevenson, the man Fay Wright married, became one of the most recognizable Texas political figures of his era, a rancher-politician whose image was closely tied to the Hill Country. His career reminds us that rural counties like Kimble were not on the margins of Texas history. They sent their own people to the capitol.
The house also brings women's history into a frontier story. Accounts of settlement often center on the men who led the wagons and built the homes. This house is remembered as the girlhood home of a woman who went on to serve as First Lady, a reminder that the families who settled the frontier included daughters whose lives reached far beyond it.
If you visit
Junction is a classic Hill Country stop along Interstate 10, where the North and South Llano rivers come together among limestone hills and clear water. It is a good place to break a long drive between San Antonio and West Texas, and the town's rivers and parks invite you to linger.
When you find the house, look at its two stories and remember how unusual that was here in the late 1870s. Think about the effort it took to raise a house like this so far from railroads and big lumberyards, and notice how it sits on the pale caliche ground the marker describes.
The house is tied to a private family history, so enjoy it from public areas and respect the property. Pair this stop with other historic sites around Junction and Kimble County to get a feel for the whole journey: from wagon-train settlement to a small town whose people went on to shape the state.
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
- · B.F. Pepper
- · Fay Wright
- · Coke Stevenson
- · R.H.P. Wright
Themes & tags
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