Neill-Cochran House
2310 San Gabriel St., Austin, TXThe Neill-Cochran House is one of the remaining Greek revival Austin houses built by the master builder, Abner Cook. Although the Neill-Cochran House was built for George Washington Hill it takes its name from two later owners, Andrew Neill and Judge T.B. Cochran. The house was built of native limestone shortly before the Civil War. During the War it was used as a hospital for wounded Union soldiers that had been captured by the Confederate forces. The Hill family never re-occupied the house for any length of time after the War. It was used as one of the first state Asylums for the Blind and a temporary home for Governor Hamilton and his family in the early 1870's.
Andrew Neill, apparently something of an adventurer, came to Texas in 1836 from Mississippi to raise and lead a company of volunteers in the Texas Revolution. Born in Great Britain, he immigrated to Willsburg, West Virginia where he studied law. He was a probate judge in Mississippi and was certified into the Texas legal profession in December, 1837. Neill bought some land in Gonzales County and settled there for a short while. He also bought some of the Linnville tract on the Texas coast. Later he moved to Seguin, purchased land in and around the town, engaged in a thriving law practice, and periodically fought Indians. In 1840 he was appointed attorney and counselor of the Supreme Court of the Republic of Texas. During the Civil War he moved his home to Galveston in order to have his family near the Confederate unit in which he served. In 1875 Captain Neill bought the old Hill house and moved to Austin. He died in 1883.
When Judge T.B. Cochran purchased the house in 1892, the grounds had been decreased from the original forty acres.to two acres. In 1958 the Neill-Cochran House was purchased by the Texas chapter of the National Society of the Colonial Dames of Texas. It has been restored and is maintained as a museum.
Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1966.
Bibliography
Andrew Neill Papers. Archives, The University of Texas.
Bracken, Dorothy K. and Maurine W. Redway. Early Texas Homes. Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press, 1956.
Neill-Cochran House file. Travis County Collection, Austin Public Library.
Webb, Walter Prescott, ed. The Handbook of Texas. Vol. II. Austin Texas State Historical Association, 1952.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1970.
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.