Hancock, John, House
1306 Colorado St., Austin, TXOne of the oldest buildings remaining in Austin is the John Hancock House built in 1854 by Abner Cook, architect of the Texas Governor's Mansion and several Greek Revival mansions in Austin. Cook built the home for John Hancock, a lawyer, planter and stock raiser, who had settled in Austin in January, 1847.
Hancock, a lineal descendant of the Virginia family of Hancocks, was born in Jackson County, Alabama, in 1824. After completion of his law studies at Winchester, Tennessee, he came to Texas to practice. As evidenced by his large, lucrative law business, Hancock acquired a well respected reputation and in 1851, at the age of only twenty-six years, was elected judge of the District Court of the Second Judicial District. Although his term of office was for six years, he resigned after serving only four years in order to resume his large law practice.
In 1860, Hancock was elected to the State Legislature on the Union ticket. However, when the war began in 1861, he declined to take the oath of allegiance to the Confederate States and, thus, eliminated himself as a member of the Texas Legislature. Throughout the war he continued to practice in State courts, but refused to conduct any legal business in the Confederate courts, or in any way. recognize their validity.
Hancock served as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1866. In 1870, when nominated for an appointment to Congress by the State Convention in Seguin, Hancock declined, but was finally persuaded by his friends to accept the Democratic nomination the following year. The following year Hancock served in the Congress from 1871 to 1877 and again from 1883 to 1885.
Hancock lived in the house from 1854 to 1858 when he sold the property to Robert Smith. John Eisenbach, operator of the famous Capitol Hotel, purchased the property in 1872 and is believed to have lived there until 1887. John Goodman bought the house from Eisenbach and the Goodman family owned the property until 1937. A 1940 brick addition to the rear is the only major alteration to the original building.
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.