Sometime before the Civil War, a horseshoe settled among tree roots near the home of James Gibson Swisher (1794–1862), a Texas Ranger and member of the group of signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence known as the Fearless 59. When he had the original brick structure built, in the 1850s, this region of Austin south of the river was sparsely populated. (The wooden Victorian structure that stands today was added in the 1880s.) The skyline to the north, now cluttered with high-rise buildings, was likewise empty; the Texas Capitol would not be erected for three more decades. That the humble horseshoe clung to the Texas mountain laurel, sinking into its trunk and branches, seemed to symbolize the enduring legacy of this property.In its new…
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