Rudolph and Therese Runge House
Mason, Mason County, Texas
Marker Inscription
In the 1880s and 1890s, stonemason Thomas Broad built several homes in Mason similar to this one, owned by E.J. and Louise Broad from 1891 until they sold it in 1895 to Therese (Marschall) Runge (1855-1946). Her husband, Rudolph Runge (1849-1914), was a German native who became a noted local attorney. The couple's sons, Carl and Roscoe, became prominent lawyers and politicians. The family sold the home in 1946, and subsequent owners have maintained the building's Victorian elements, many of which are common in Thomas Broad's work. These include turned posts and the use of random ashlar stone with unique pointing treatment and articulated quoins. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2003
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Stonemason Thomas Broad built this Mason home around 1891, one of several he crafted with turned posts and random-ashlar stonework marked by distinctive quoins and pointing. From 1895 it belonged to Therese Runge and her husband Rudolph, a German-born attorney; their sons Carl and Roscoe grew up to become prominent Texas lawyers and politicians.
Why it matters
The house reflects the German immigrants who shaped the Texas Hill Country, and the fine stonework of masons like Thomas Broad that gave their towns a lasting architectural signature.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
Mason sits in the northern Texas Hill Country, a region shaped by German immigration. Starting in the 1840s, thousands of German-speaking settlers came to Central Texas. They founded towns and farms and brought with them a deep respect for education, law and solid building.
By the 1880s and 1890s, Mason was a settled county seat, and its leading families wanted homes that showed it. In a region with plenty of good local stone and few trees for big timber, many chose masonry. Skilled stonemasons were in demand, and a few of them gave whole towns their character.
The Runge house belongs to that moment. Across the nation, Victorian taste called for ornament, porches and decorative detail. In Mason, that taste was expressed in hand-laid stone instead of the mass-produced wooden trim common elsewhere.
People & events
The builder was Thomas Broad, a stonemason who put up several houses like this one around Mason in the 1880s and 1890s. Broad had his own way with stone, and it shows here. The walls are random ashlar, meaning squared stones of varied sizes fitted together rather than set in even rows. The mortar joints get a distinctive pointing treatment, and the corners are built up with articulated quoins, larger stones that frame each edge of the house.
E.J. and Louise Broad owned the house from 1891. In 1895 they sold it to Therese Runge, born Marschall. Her husband, Rudolph Runge, was born in Germany and became a well-regarded attorney in Mason. His story fits a familiar Hill Country pattern: an immigrant who became a pillar of his adopted town's civic life.
Their sons, Carl and Roscoe, followed their father into law and went further, becoming prominent lawyers and politicians in their own right. The family kept the house for half a century. Therese lived until 1946, and the house was sold that same year. Later owners have taken care to keep the Victorian features that make it so clearly Broad's work.
Its place in the American story
The Runge house is a small chapter in one of the great immigration stories of the nineteenth century. Germans were among the largest immigrant groups in the United States in those decades, and Central Texas became one of their most distinctive settlement areas. Their languages, churches, schools and building traditions still mark the landscape.
The Runge family also shows how quickly immigrant families moved into American public life. A German-born father built a law practice, and within one generation his sons were prominent in law and politics. That path from newcomer to civic leader played out in many communities across the country.
The house is also a reminder that American architecture was often regional and personal. Instead of following a single national style, it reflects one local craftsman's skill with local stone, a builder whose own signature still shows in Mason's streets.
If you visit
This is a private home, so enjoy it from the street and respect the owners' privacy. The stonework rewards a close look. Notice how the uneven ashlar blocks fit together, the careful finish of the mortar joints, and the strong quoins at the corners. Then look for the turned posts on the porch, the Victorian touch that softens all that stone.
Since Thomas Broad built several similar homes in Mason, it can be fun to walk or drive the older neighborhoods and spot his style on other houses. Once you know those quoins and that pointing, you'll start to see them elsewhere.
Mason makes a good stop on a Hill Country road trip. Its historic town square and stone buildings are well worth a stroll, and the drive through the surrounding granite and limestone country is beautiful in every season.
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
- · Rudolph Runge
- · Therese Runge
- · Thomas Broad
Themes & tags
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