Enfield after 1918 

Elizabeth Whitlow of Texas History Research Services has compiled a brief history of Enfield in conjunction with the 100th Anniversary of the original plat of the neighborhood.

Miss Julie, daughter of Gov. and Mrs. Pease, was known to so love the trees of Woodlawn that she would not permit a branch to be cut without her supervision.  It may be that in addition to beginning Enfield as close to downtown as possible for economic value, she did not want homes built near Woodlawn.  After she died in January 1918, Enfield developed more quickly.  The timing could reflect the growing economy of the times, but it seems doubtful that Miss Julie wanted to see land turned into a housing development, however lovely.  When her friend Mrs. Tom Taylor spoke about her, she said that Miss Julie’s death meant the death of many trees in Enfield.

Enfield owes its existence to Gov. Pease     When young Marshall Pease first left his Connecticut family he wrote them homesick letters, but by Spring 1836 during the Texas Revolution he wrote his father Lorrain, “If we succeed in maintaining [our independence] … I would not leave Texas for any county on earth.”  In August his brother Lorrain died here, but in writing home about their loss the new Texan — who had already helped to shape the Republic –maintained his position: “Texas is my home, and … here I shall spend the balance of my life.”  Because Gov. Pease felt that way, and because he chose to keep Woodlawn during the Civil War, Enfield exists in Austin, Texas.

Select Sources:  Texas General Land Office records; Pease-Graham-Niles Family Papers, Austin History Center, Public Library; Roger A. Griffin, Connecticut Yankee in Texas: A Biography of Elisha Marshall Pease, PhD Dissertation, UT 1973; Old West Austin Historic District, National Register of Historic Places; Austin Statesman microfilm, Austin City Directories, and Austin Lot Registers, Austin History Center, APL.