Article Title

The T.C. Osborn Tenant Farm, 41BP314: An Early Sharecropper Site in Bastrop County, Texas

Authors

José E. Zapata, Center for Archeological Research, University of Texas at San AntonioFollow

Agency

Center for Archaeological Research

DOI

https://doi.org/10.21112/ita.2001.1.10

Abstract

The T. C. Osborn tenant site was located in Bastrop, Bastrop County, about 1,300 ft. (410 m) east of the juncture of Gills Branch Creek and the Colorado River, along the path of present-day Lovers Lane, and just south of State Highway 71. This site was determined eligible for the National Register of Historic Places and investigated in February and March 1987 by John W. Clark of the Texas Department of Transportation, prior to being impacted by the construction of Lovers Lane. A total of 32 units were excavated, and the recovered artifacts include ceramic sherds, glass fragments, beads and marbles, cut and wire nails, assorted metal objects, buttons, and bone fragments. This site also underwent Historic American Building Survey, Level 3 documentation, so that a series of measured drawings of the demolished four-room board-and-batten home are also available. A site history of the property discovered that the board-and-batten home was constructed ca. 1906 by T. C. Osborn for the use of tenant farm families. The artifactual, archival, and oral history data indicates that this site was occupied by at least two Mexican and Mexican-American families between ca. 1906 and 1941. The matriarch of one of these tenant families, 93-year-old Louise García, resides within four blocks of the original site, and contributed an oral history to this inquiry. The personal narratives furnished by former Osborn Farm tenant families were critical to achieving a synthesis of the data.

All cultural materials, field notes, forms, and photographs were retained at the Center for Archaeological Research at The University of Texas at San Antonio for permanent curation.

Licensing Statement

This is a work produced for the Texas Department of Transportation (TxDOT) by the report producer. TxDOT and the report producer jointly own all rights, title, and interest in and to all intellectual property developed under TxDOT’s contract with the report producer. The report may be cited and brief passages from this publication may be reproduced without permission provided that credit is given to both TxDOT and the report producer. Permission to reprint an entire chapter, section, figures or tables must be obtained in advance from either the Supervisor of the Archeological Studies Branch, Environmental Affairs Division, Texas Department of Transportation, 125 East 11th Street, Austin, Texas, 78701 or from the report producer.