Juneteenth: Visit Austin's slave quarters

Restored 1856 slave quarters to reopen at Neill-Cochran House

For 150 years, a limestone building in Austin, TX hid a dark secret. Recent research reveals it was once slave quarters for the nearby Neill-Cochran House, a museum operated by the National Society of The Colonial Dames of America in the State of Texas.

"I remember the day I realized what the building really was, and what sticks with me is my shock... that all that happened on the other side of that door was made possible by the enslavement economy," says Rowena Houghton Dasch, the museum's director.

On June 22, a Juneteenth celebration will feature large interpretive panels telling the story of the main house, the out structure, and those who lived and worked there.

The panels cover the history of African slavery in various eras, and include an enlightening section on Austin's unique history: "Austin: Where Slavery Came to Die, But Didn't", which features a slave density map showing how the arid lands to the west of the city limited plantation slavery.

The Neill-Cochran House itself has an intriguing history, constructed by master builder Abner Cook in 1855 for Washington and Mary Hill. The Hills sold it before completion to investors, who leased it to the state as an asylum for the blind. From 1876 onwards, it was occupied by the Neill and Cochran families, who employed freedmen and freedwomen, yet these individuals still faced Black Codes and Jim Crow Laws, and increasing segregation.

Only with the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts of the 1960s did freedom begin to become a reality for Black residents.

Links to Austin's History

The site is steeped in Austin's history, with Indigenous people passing by for thousands of years, and its proximity to Wheatville, a thriving Black colony.

"The heart of Austin beats here... The fact that we steward the only intact and accessible slave dwelling left in Austin is a critical piece of that history," Dasch adds.

This concise retelling retains the key details of the original article, providing a revealing insight into a hidden aspect of Austin's past, and the ongoing struggles for equality.