Stagecoach Inn of Chappell Hill
Encyclopedia
The Stagecoach Inn of Chappell Hill (also known as the Stage Coach Inn)is a historic stage coach inn at Main and Chestnut Streets in Chappell Hill, Texas
.
It was built in 1850 by Mary Haller, the founder of Chappell Hill. Mary and her husband Jacob, the town's first postmaster, built the stately 14 room Greek Revival inn along the road from Houston to Austin, where some of Texas' first stagecoach lines, the Smith and Jones, and later the F.P. Sawyers, would stop for the night.
The Hallers operated the Inn from 1850 to 1859, when it was bought by Judge Benjamin Thomas, who operated the Inn until 1870.
Throughout this period, the town of Chappell Hill (which was named after Mary Haller's grandfather and spelled correctly with two "l"s) was a part of a booming cotton farming economy, a crop so important to the Southern economy that it was known as King Cotton
.
As the cotton economy faded after the turn of the century and highways were built bypassing the town, the Inn fell into disrepair, until it was purchased in 1976 by noted Houston architect Harvin C. Moore and his wife Elizabeth. Harvin had often seen the Inn while traveling in the 1920s to and from Austin as a student and member of the Rice University band, and had dreamed of one day bringing it back to life. At the completion of the Moores' restoration, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Inn continues to be operated as a bed and breakfast as of Fall 2009.
Chappell Hill, Texas
Chappell Hill is a small rural community in the eastern portion of Washington County, Texas, United States. It is located along U.S. Highway 290 roughly halfway between Brenham and Hempstead. Chappell Hill is located inside Stephen F...
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It was built in 1850 by Mary Haller, the founder of Chappell Hill. Mary and her husband Jacob, the town's first postmaster, built the stately 14 room Greek Revival inn along the road from Houston to Austin, where some of Texas' first stagecoach lines, the Smith and Jones, and later the F.P. Sawyers, would stop for the night.
The Hallers operated the Inn from 1850 to 1859, when it was bought by Judge Benjamin Thomas, who operated the Inn until 1870.
Throughout this period, the town of Chappell Hill (which was named after Mary Haller's grandfather and spelled correctly with two "l"s) was a part of a booming cotton farming economy, a crop so important to the Southern economy that it was known as King Cotton
King Cotton
King Cotton was a slogan used by southerners to support secession from the United States by arguing cotton exports would make an independent Confederacy economically prosperous, and—more important—would force Great Britain and France to support the Confederacy because their industrial economy...
.
As the cotton economy faded after the turn of the century and highways were built bypassing the town, the Inn fell into disrepair, until it was purchased in 1976 by noted Houston architect Harvin C. Moore and his wife Elizabeth. Harvin had often seen the Inn while traveling in the 1920s to and from Austin as a student and member of the Rice University band, and had dreamed of one day bringing it back to life. At the completion of the Moores' restoration, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Inn continues to be operated as a bed and breakfast as of Fall 2009.