Goodman Building
202 W. 13th St., Austin, TXThe property on the northwest corner of 13th Street and Colorado, where the Goodman Building is located today, was first patented from the State of Texas in 1851 to George Thomas Howard who was well known as an Indian fighter and Texas military leader. During the period that he owned the land, Howard was appointed by the Department of the Interior as Superintendent of the Texas Indian agents. Howard kept the land only two years and then in 185 3, sold the property to John Hancock. When Hancock sold his house at 1306 Colorado to Robert Smith in 1858, this corner property at 13th and Colorado was included as a part of this parcel.
After a succession of owners John Eisenbach, a tailor, bought the property in 1872. Eisenbach owned the land until 1887, but there is no evidence that he ever built on the land. In 1887 he sold "land and improvements" to John Goodman, a grocer who maintained his store one block away.
Apparently, Goodman built on this site in the early 1890's for the 1893-94 City Directory was the first to list his new business address at 202 West 13th Street. Goodman, however, continued to reside at his previous address at 302 West 13th. Advertising "Groceries, Provisions, Feed, Beer, Saloon," the Goodman store, located on the ground floor of the two-story building, must have had a successful business. Situated in the middle of what was then a residential district and only a block away from the Capitol grounds, Goodman probably had a prosperous and faithful clientele. Goodman operated his grocery in the building until 1924. In 1939 Dr. Henry L. Hilgartner, a physician, bought the building and now maintains his office on the first floor.
The second floor was first occupied by the Bickler Academy, an elite preparatory school, from 1892-96. The floor was used for apartments and continued to be rented as living units until 1969. Today Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas maintains their office on this upper floor.
This attractive two-story building is one of the few examples remaining in the Capitol complex of a 19th century commercial structure. The store, school and apartments which were located in the Goodman Building all served important functions in the residential area that surrounded the Capitol in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
Bibliography
Webb, Walter Prescott, ed. The Handbook of Texas. Vol. 1 of 2, (Austin: The Texas State Historical Association, 1952).
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1973.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.