HistoricSiteMarkers
Early Republic

Logan Vandeveer House

Burnet, Burnet County, Texas

Marker Inscription

(1815-55) Came from Kentucky in 1833. He was badly wounded fighting for Texas at San Jacinto, 1836. Moving here to sell beef to Fort Croghan, 1849, he was one of organizers of the county and original postmaster of the town. In the early 1850s he built this house near Hamilton Creek for a daughter. It stood at 502 South Water Street. Burnet County Historical Society moved it here for preservation in 1973. Porch was floored with stones from an early Burnet County Courthouse. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1974

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

Logan Vandeveer came from Kentucky in 1833 and was badly wounded fighting for Texas independence at San Jacinto in 1836. Settling in Burnet County to sell beef to nearby Fort Croghan in 1849, he helped organize the county and served as the town's first postmaster. In the early 1850s he built this house near Hamilton Creek for a daughter; the Burnet County Historical Society moved it here in 1973, flooring its porch with stones from an early county courthouse.

Why it matters

Vandeveer's life spans the Texas Revolution and the frontier settlement that followed, embodying the soldier-settlers who founded the counties of central Texas.

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Related people

  • ยท Logan Vandeveer

Related events

  • ยท Battle of San Jacinto, 1836

Themes & tags

Westward ExpansionFrontier HistoryHome

Nearby & related markers

Peter Kerr

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A Pennsylvania native and one of Stephen F. Austin's 'Old 300' original colonists, Peter Kerr took part in the 1836 war for Texas independence and made and lost several fortunes before buying a league of Burnet County land in 1851 that included Fort Croghan. Grown wealthy as an army beef contractor, he gave 100 acres and the town square for the county seat and willed a fortune in land and cash to found a college โ€” a bequest later broken in court, leaving the town only a small school site. Neighbors said 'he never refused to help when he observed its need.'

Fort Croghan Stone Building

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This stone structure is one of the eight original buildings of Fort Croghan, the U.S. Army post that guarded the Hill Country frontier from 1849 to 1853. After the soldiers left, the building served frontier "Minute Men" and local settlers, extending its usefulness well beyond its military years. It is a tangible remnant of the fortified line that once marked the western edge of American settlement.

Site of Fort Croghan

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Fort Croghan was one of a line of U.S. Army posts thrown up across the Texas frontier at mid-century, established here in 1849 by Lieutenant C. H. Tyler of the Second Dragoons. Its job was to shield settlers pushing into the Hill Country from raids, and by 1853 the frontier had moved so far west that the fort was no longer needed. Its brief life traces the restless edge of American settlement in the years just after Texas joined the Union.

Rocky Rest

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Rocky Rest was raised in 1860 from hand-hewn stone and logs, its thick walls and high windows built as much for defense as for shelter on the still-contested Texas frontier. It was the work of Adam R. Johnson, who would go on to notable Civil War service, and it stands as a rare survivor of the fortified homesteads that dotted the Hill Country. Named a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1966.