Village Feature:

Hill House

Abilene’s first marshal, Tom Hill, built this house in 1882 as a rental home. At the corner of North 5^th and Orange streets, it was the first lumber-construction house in the county. Once he married Mollie Houser and children came along, Tom doubled the size of the rental house and moved his family and mother-in-law into it. The increased size created a “shotgun” style of house: you could shoot a shotgun from the front door down the straight hallway to the back of the house. Which is an ironic description considering how Tom died just a few years later.

The Hills furnished their house carefully, and proudly showed off Tom’s wedding gift to his bride: an elegant silver coffee urn with spigot for serving. It is still on display in the house that has since been moved to the Buffalo Gap Historic Village, along with most of the furniture and furnishings from the young marshal’s family.

Tom was elected marshal in 1881, and also served as City Tax Collector. He had survived smallpox as a child and, believing he was immune as an adult, helped bury smallpox victims during a huge outbreak. He once accompanied a friend to New York; the friend was involved in a shooting and Tom ended up spending time in a New York jail until it was all sorted out. Shortly after he returned to Abilene in 1886, he resigned as marshal and became deputy sheriff in Runnels County, leaving his family in Abilene.

Later that same year, Tom was attempting to disarm a friend “who was about to get into difficulty.” The weapon discharged, shooting Tom in the foot. The injury required a partial amputation, and Tom died from complications unknown. He was just 32.

Meanwhile, back in Abilene, Tom’s family continued to live in the shotgun house at 1346 N. 5^th Street. Eventually the house fell into disrepair, but Tom’s widow refused to sell the silver urn or any of her jewelry to fund basic maintenance. Their church family intervened, and Mrs. Hill lived in the house the rest of her life. When her daughter died in the 1960s, she left the house to the Methodist Home for Children in Waco, who eventually donated the house to the Buffalo Gap Historic Village.

Today, the home has been restored to resemble the original as closely as possible, down to the wallpaper, rugs, curtains, and courtyard. Visitors are sure to enjoy the bathroom with chamber pot and seemingly extra-long bathtub. And of course, the now-tarnished silver urn on the kitchen table.