Page 20 - Waxahachie, TX Residential Design Guidelines

IntroductIon
The homes along North Rogers
Street illustrate what are now
contributing structures to the
designated historic district. This
1909 Sanborn map also illustrates
the relatively similar setback and
front yard size for each of the
structures, along with the use of
accessory structures on the sites. is looming up, so is Bullard Addition, so is Williams Addition, so is
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for colored pupils, and an enrollment of 700 scholars; several
excellent public schools, street railways, electric light system, an
active fire department, two and three‐story business houses in
course of construction, and a new water works system.”
Warehouses, cotton yards, compresses, gins, and other cotton‐
related resources that relied heavily upon the railroad were in
close proximity to the tracks, including one of the state’s first textile
mills. The booming local economy during the late nineteenth and
early twentieth centuries spurred an era of intense development
and new construction in the entire community. Ellis County
eventually became one of the nation’s largest cotton‐producing
counties during the early 1900s, and Waxahachie became known
as “The Queen City of the Cotton Belt.”
Waxahachie’s neighborhoods, like its commercial center,
experienced a construction boom during the late 1800s and early
1900s. Dwellings for all social and economic classes, including
laborers, clerks, store owners, cotton brokers, bankers, and others,
were built throughout the city. Housing demands were so great that
as existing neighborhoods were filled, new sections were opened
for development. The West End and East End were popular areas
for the town’s more financially successful individuals. An 1890
article in the Waxahachie Enterprise stated, “West End Addition
College Hill, so is all Waxahachie.”
Large impressive Victorian residences with ornate jig‐sawn
detailing prevailed throughout the West End and East End and
reflected the wealth and social status of their owners. Local
streetcar service was initiated by 1889 and, extending to each end
of the city, influenced the town’s physical growth. More modest
residences such as L‐plan, modified L‐plan, and other vernacular
house types, were built in the neighborhoods between the West
and East Ends. The city annexed the rest of the West End suburb
by 1902. Worker housing was often built near mills and processing
plants.
The town’s vibrant economy at the turn of the century no doubt
played a crucial role in the decision to relocate Trinity University to
Waxahachie; it would be relocated again in 1942 to San Antonio.
The campus stood at the northwest edge of the city and eventually
included a complex of structures. The establishment of the college
affected the physical growth of Waxahachie, as the University
Addition south of the school opened a large amount of land for
Waxahac hie Residential design guidelines