The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 65, July 1961 - April, 1962 Page: 320
663 p. : ill., maps (some col.), ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
corner of its block, with the monument marking the northwest
corner of the corner lot.
On this basis, it is indicated that the true site of the original
Independence Hall lies in what is now the southwest corner of
that portion of Washington State Park which lies between the
stores of Washington and the Brazos River. The building would
parallel what is now the principal street of the town and face
north into the park.
While none of the early histories of Texas carried pictures of
Independence Hall, later historians have shown an amazing lack
of reticence and a startling inconsistency on this score. Illustra-
tions accompanying this article will prove this point. Most of
them are sketches, because no photograph of the original build-
ing has been positively identified. This is strange in itself, since
the structure was of sufficient significance to have attracted pho-
tographers and is known to have been standing a number of years
after photography became reasonably common in Texas.
The illustrations generally fall into two distinct patterns, fol-
lowing either the school of thought established by the late N. W.
Wilcox6 of Austin and fostered by the Rev. J. B. Blackwell3 of
San Antonio, or being patterned after an old photograph of
uncertain origin which is believed to be a likeness of the original
building. The Wilcox-Blackwell school pictures the building as
having a two-story front section, with a one-story projection at
the rear, and normally shows an outside stairway leading to the
upper story at the front. The other pattern, into which the
"replica" on the park grounds falls, depicts a one-story building
with a high-pitched roof on one side, tapering to a low shedlike
projection on the other. Neither exactly fits the descriptions left
by eyewitnesses, even on the points on which these witnesses
seem to agree.
The Wilcox-Blackwell version, with its two-story front, is based
upon Zuber's description, given in a letter to N. M. Wilcox, Jan-
36N. M. Wilcox, an Austin photographer, was born in Tippah County, Mississippi,
on January 28, 1845, and came to Texas with his parents in 1852. He worked with
his father as a cabinet maker, then took up photography, which he followed at
Burnet, Georgetown and Austin. Biographical History of Milam, Williamson, Bas-
trop, Travis, Lee and Burleson Counties (Chicago, 1893).
87Co-Chaplain, Old Trail Drivers' Association of Texas, 8421 West Woodlawn
Avenue, San Antonio.3o
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 65, July 1961 - April, 1962, periodical, 1962; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101195/m1/360/?rotate=90: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.