The new life in Texas was primitive and rigorous. In 
the words of one account, ‘Here women in drab calico (which 
sold for 50 cents a yard) stirred ‘hog and hominy’ with home-
made wooden spoons and learned to use the long rifle. They 
lived in bare, sometimes windowless log cabins. Flour was 
$25 a barrel; it was said that ‘Texas is a heaven for men 
and dogs but hell for women and oxen.’-Writers’ Program of 
the Works Projects Administration of Texas, The WPA Guide 
to Texas.


Texas-according to Gordon Echols-offers an unusual stage for 
the study of frontier building styles. In this volume, Echols 
examines dwellings ranging from primitive dugouts and dog-run 
log cabins to stylish Greek Revival and Victorian structures. 
In many cases they are different in form and function but all 
share something in common-they incorporate singular elements 
that make up the fabric of Texas life.

    
Three factors determine building style: geography and environment;
ethnic diversity; and availability of construction materials. 
Texas geography ranges from the low Coastal Plains along the 
shores of the Gulf of Mexico to the pine woods of East Texas, 
the Blackland Prairie of the north central part of the state, 
and the arid high deserts of far West Texas. Frontier Texans 
came from a variety of ethnic backgrounds, including people of
Euro-American stock (many of them of southern origin), as well 
as Mexicans, blacks, Germans, and Eastern Europeans. Though many
buildings were constructed by master builders and craftsmen such 
as Abner Cook and Augustus Phelps, most were put up by pioneers 
who followed traditional construction methods brought from 
their homelands but used local materials: log, stone or adobe 
brick. Texas settlers from every culture brought tools, hardware, 
and the know-how needed to build homes in a harsh wilderness.

    
Gordon Echols traces the development of various styles from the 
most rudimentary and little-known rural dwellings to the 
sophisticated Greek Revival governor’s mansion in Austin and 
the Victorian buildings that were made possible by new wealth 
earned in trading cotton, cattle and petroleum.


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GORDON ECHOLS, architect and city planner, is professor 
emeritus in the College of Architecture at Texas A&M University. 
He resides in Lynchburg, Virginia.