Trueheart, Henry M. and Annie V., House

The Henry M. and Annie V. Trueheart House in Fort Davis, originally called "Las Rocas" for its placement amid outcrops of huge volcanic rocks, is named for its first owners, Henry and Annie Trueheart, who built the house as a summer escape for their family. Henry Martyn Trueheart, a prominent Texas real estate broker, office about 600 miles away at Galveston in his 1881 H.M. Trueheart & Co. Building (Trueheart- Adriance Building, N.R. 1971) just off The Strand in the booming coastal city's business district. The Trueheart's Fort Davis vacation home, reputedly designed by their daughter Sally, represents a typical Queen Anne composition popular in late 19th century Galveston. The family brought the style to the remote ranching country of Fort Davis in 1898 when they constructed the home reportedly using craftsmen and laborers from the area. The period of significance begins and ends in 1898, the date of construction for the house and other Contributing elements. The house and its two acres of rocky property, which includes a windmill, two water storage structures, and the drive-through porte cochere as Contributing elements, are nominated under Criterion C in the area of Architecture as an example of resort-type homes in Fort Davis, as well as for its design and method of construction that blends native materials such as adobe and natural features such as large boulders and desert foliage with the turn of the century plan and style of the home.

After 1848, the well-traveled San Antonio-El Paso Road and the Butterfield Trails passed through West Texas and the "Apache Mountains," carrying people westward to the gold fields of California. To protect these travelers and the U.S. Mail from Apache and Comanche tribes, the U.S. Army built a fort in a box canyon in these mountains near Limpia Creek. They named it, and renamed the surrounding mountains, after Secretary of War Jefferson Davis. The fort was active from 1854 to 1891, except for the years of the Civil War. After the war, most recruits to Fort Davis were African American soldiers who served in the famous 9th Cavalry, known to Native Americans as "Buffalo Soldiers." Among the troops was Lt. Henry O. Flipper, the first black graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. Situated on the Overland Trail and fueled by an economy generated through the fort, the adjacent community of Fort Davis took shape. The closing of the fort in 1891 marked the beginning of an economic transition for the town and region to ranching, an enterprise started by early homesteaders in the area. As the town grew, it became a haven for summer visitors. The scenic attractions of the surrounding Davis mountains coupled with the town's mile-high elevation and mild, dry climate attracted many affluent families. The 1904 Texas Almanac and State Industrial Guide also describes Fort Davis as a celebrated health resort because of its dry, clear atmosphere.

Henry Martyn Trueheart is said to have been the first real estate credit broker in Texas. Born March 23, 1832, in Louisa County, Virginia, Trueheart came to Galveston on May 5, 1845. By the age of 25, he was appointed Assessor and Collector of Taxes for Galveston County, a position he held for ten years. His ties to the city of Galveston led to his involvement in the Civil War when he participated in the Battle of Galveston on January 1, 1863. After the battle, he became assistant provost marshal with the rank of captain (Webb, p. 805). Later that year, in August, he returned to his native Virginia and joined Company F, 7th Virginia Cavalry, and fought with J.E.B. Stuart until he was wounded in a skirmish near Orange Courthouse. In 1866 he married Annie Vanmeter Cunningham in Virginia and brought her back to Galveston where he established his real estate company, the H.M. Trueheart & Co. Real Estate Agency. The company became the first recognized and chartered real estate company in Texas. The company's building, the Trueheart-Adriance Building became one of the first Texas properties listed on the National Register (NR 1971). Trueheart also served as a trustee of the Galveston schools for 25 years (Webb, p. 805). He remained in the real estate business in Galveston, using the Fort Davis house as a summer retreat, until he died in 1914.

As a real estate broker, Trueheart had land holdings in many Texas counties including Galveston, Angelina, Dimmitt, Llano, and Hansford. He also owned a ranch near Fort Davis at Point-of-Rock off present Highway 166, which he bought from Nick Mersfelder, a homesteader in the Fort Davis region (Map-17). The neighborhood where Trueheart built his summer home became very up-scale throughout at least the first half of the 20th century, and during the early 1900s Court Street was referred to as "Millionaires' Row" (Map-18). Trueheart's brother-in-law and business partner, John Adriance, also built a summer home in Fort Davis, just five blocks east of the Trueheart house along Court Street (Map-18). Although this home burned in 1927, other resort homes on Court Street still standing include the J.K. Miller home, built in the 1880s by E.L. Gage, the J.W. Espy home, built in 1911 by J.W. Espy, a long-time rancher, and the W.J. Jones home, across the street from the Trueheart house, built in 1903 by a Fort Davis doctor. Also on Court Street is the Hotel Lempert, later known as the Clark Apartments, established in 1883.

Although Trueheart and his family used the Fort Davis house primarily as a summer retreat to escape the oppressive summer heat and humidity of Galveston, Trueheart also entertained the hope that the health benefits of the Fort Davis climate would cure his gravely ill son Henry, who suffered from Bright's Disease. Unfortunately, Henry eventually succumbed to the illness. The trip from Galveston started for the Truehearts with a ride on Southern Pacific Railroad's main line from Houston to the station at Marfa, where they would then transfer to an all-day 21-mile cross-country trip to their home in Fort Davis.

After the death of their son, the Truehearts continued to use the house as a summer place. After Henry Sr.'s death on August 19, 1914, the Truehearts owned the property for six more years until Annie sold the 17.1-acre estate on April 22, 1920, to Edwin H. Fowlkes Sr., a rancher with major holdings in the area, for the sum of $3,700.

Fowlkes owned the Highland Springs Ranch in the upper reaches of the Davis Mountains about 40 miles outside of Fort Davis. He inherited the ranch at 19 from his stepfather, John Chandler Prude. The Fowlkes Ranch became one of the largest in the area, second only to the still-operating Kokernot Ranch. Fowlkes and his wife, Irene, lived there with their seven children and came into Fort Davis once a month to take care of washing, mail, grocery shopping, and visiting friends. After purchasing the Trueheart estate, the family occupied the house until at least March 2, 1934, while still operating the Highland Springs Ranch. Their five sons were a notoriously rowdy group who kept horses at the house and frequently rode out to the ranch in the mountains. Irene kept the house furnished with pieces of large, dark furniture and kept the table properly set with silver and china. With such a large family, however, the house inevitably showed signs of wear and tear.

In August 1930 Fowlkes became county judge for Jeff Davis County, an office he held until his death in 1936 when Irene was appointed to complete her husband's term. Before his death, Fowlkes had gone into debt to several government agencies, banks, and individuals, forcing the sale of all his property. In the early 1930s Fowlkes along with Nick Mersfelder, a local loan shark to whom he was indebted, gave 200 acres of his ranch unit in the Davis Mountains to the University of Texas as a site for its new McDonald Observatory. In 1937 the balance of Fowlkes' holdings was bought by A.R. Eppenauer, an oilman from Fort Worth. By the early 1940s, the Trueheart house fell into decline to the point of abandonment for several years. The 17-acre estate was sold three times during the 1940s before the current owners purchased the two-acre section of land that included the house and its various outbuildings.

In 1941, Irene sold the property to the W. Keesey estate, which sold the property three years later to Roy L. Evans for $3,500. The property changed hands again in 1948 when J.D. Duncan purchased the land from Evans for $10,000. Then, in 1949, the Duncans sold the current two-acre tract of land to Bertram Clayton Neill and his wife Teda Warren, for $5,000. Neill rescued it from neglect and lived in the house with his family, restoring and remodeling it to its present condition.

Established Victorian styles of the era, perhaps the romantically inspired imagination of Trueheart's daughter Sally, and the remoteness of the area combined to form this interesting and noteworthy house. The native adobe and rock work, juxtaposed with the refinements in vogue during the era, reflect Galveston's tastes adapted to the conditions of the Fort Davis area, using local building materials and workers to create its unique appearance. The thick walls and classical-style elements of the house are also found in the officers' homes at nearby Fort Davis. The availability of quality stone and skilled masons made the Trueheart House's elaborate stonework, including the gazebo-like veranda rotunda which is a distinctive element of the property. Other construction materials were brought in by train to Marfa for overland shipment to Fort Davis, including dimensional yellow pine planks and timbers. The incorporation of the house's architecture with the dramatic bouldered hillside complements the sophistication of its design and reveals more than an expedient solution to the siting of the building. Its floor plan reflects the needs of the typical large family of the time possessing means to facilitate them. Interior appointments also met the requirements of a family wishing to maintain a formality of the lifestyle they knew in Galveston. Original outbuildings of the property such as the cistern/pumphouse reflect the need to store water in the dry Fort Davis climate, watered only by creeks with no major rivers or lakes.

Recent, Noncontributing additions such as the stone playhouse or modifications to features such as the stone retaining walls do not significantly detract from the overall historic integrity of the property. Their compatible materials and forms often complement the style and design of the historic features and could be reconsidered as Contributing elements when they achieve fifty years of age.

The Henry M. and Annie V. Trueheart House is in remarkably good condition as it nears its 100th year. Most of its historic features have been preserved with a minimum of remodeling. The Trueheart House is now known as the Neill Museum, established by Teda Warren Neill. The Neill Museum first opened on June 1, 1960, and is a popular visitor attraction in the Fort Davis area, exhibiting an antique doll collection with examples dating from 1835. The setting for the collection features Victorian-era furniture and other antiques reflecting types and styles from the time period when Trueheart built the house. The property is now owned by Neill's daughter Shirley Neill-Vickers. The house also serves as a bed-and-breakfast.