From A letter of Jefferson Jones to Mirabeau Lamar, President of the Republic of Texas. ”I never expected to realize your eloquent description of Texas until I saw the lands of the upper Colorado. There are 100 of the most beautiful sights for building round the town level. Rome itself, with all of its famous hills, could not have surpassed the natural scenery of Waterloo” (name before Austin).
Waterloo Compound is the original grouping of some of the very oldest commercial buildings in Austin.
Located in the part of the city which was the original settlement called Waterloo, whose first white settler was Jacob Harrell in 1835. Harold, visited by President Lamar on a Buffalo hunting trip in 1838., showed him the land which Lamar would later help become the capital of a nation on. A map drawn in 1839 by General Edward Burleson, the Waterloo Compounds present corner is shown as Cypress Street (3rd) and Red River streets.
Land for Waterloo compound was purchased from the state of Texas in 1854 on August second by H. F. Hofheinz, who had emigrated from Germany.
Sometime soon after 1850, Hofheinz built a log cabin on the site, and shortly thereafter erected the early Texas Sunday house near the cabin. Hofheinz used the ”Sunday house”, the loft of which is reached by outside stairs, as a corn crib for the mule team he drove when hauling freight to and from Mexico. In between trips to Mexico, Hofheinz sold goods from a spring wagon, which he drove around the village of Austin and into surrounding counties, always carrying his ball and cap pistol for protection.
In 1854, Hofheinz built the two-story portion of the present store, consisting of a large room on the ground floor and two upstairs rooms reached by an outside stair. Constructed of Austin ”stack” limestone and yellow pine, A notable feature as the double ceiling above the second story was 2 feet of airspace between the 2 ceilings, affording the best possible installation for winter and summer.
Hofheinz took down his log cabin in 1866 and added a large stone structure to the store. This edition has five rooms and a wine cellar. The large room with cellar underneath, adjoining the original store became a domino parlor and saloon, and the other four rooms became the family’s main residence.
The Waterloo Compound today is the Moonshine Patio Bar and Grill Compound including the Sunday House for private groups, Carriage House Bar and the wine cellar is Kinfolk Whiskey Bar.
Waterloo Compound is around the corner from the Rainey Street District.
