Weed House 4th Street: from Victorian Gothic to Colonial Revival to parking lot.

April 24, 2022 ·

The residence of Valentine O. Weed (300 E. 4th Street), location of the murder of Mary Ramey. Earliest photo circa 1900, later re-modeled in the colonial revival style circa 1940, and finally demolished, as a parking lot 1997.

weed house 1900

PICH 00103 Austin History Center.

PICH 02612 Austin History Center.

4th street 1997

300 East 4th Street. 1997.

I took the photo of the location in 1997. For some reason I thought I could wander around the locations of the murders and find…I don’t know what. If I had realized the remnants of the original retaining wall were there I would have taken a brick as a souvenir.

A hotel is currently located on the site.

Previous Post

Theft of Governor's Pants - March Mischief - Police Calls

"Officer Sendry reports that someone entered Gov. Ireland's room last night and stole a pair of pants and one dollar in the pockets." -- 17 MAR 1885. Austin Police Calls. Gov. John Ireland The above incident is the perfect metaphor for…
Read
Random Post

Mystery Train to Austin

One-time Austinite Steven Saylor tells the story of the Servant Girl Murders through the eyes of one-time Austinite O. Henry in the novel A Twist At The End. You think you know people, but you don’t.  A Twist at The…
Read
Random Post

History Detectives Special Investigations

Last year I had the pleasure of working with the staff from PBS's History Detectives for the upcoming History Detectives Special Investigations: Texas Servant Girl Murders.  The cast and crew came to Austin last summer; they did a number of…
Read
Random Post

Discovering History at the Travis County Archives

Materials in Travis County Archives Collection. The mission of the Travis County Archives is to serve the government and the community of Travis County by documenting, preserving, and making available its records and history. The Travis County Archives documents the…
Read
Random Post

Google Maps

1885 locations of the servant girl murders now in Google Maps!
Read
Random Post

The Hancock Inquest - Graphic Details - Suspicions - Nightmares

The Hancock Inquest is a fascinating document filled with peculiar details, opinions and suspicions about the murder of Susan Hancock that were never published.  I thought it would be worthwhile to transcribe the handwritten document in full in order to…
Read