Pioneer Farms
Henry Orsay House - 1870
Originally located at 903 Neches Street, in the center of downtown Austin, this one-story frame house was built about 1870 by Henry Orsay, a soldier and chief clerk in the state Adjutant General's Office.
Orsay arrived in Austin in November of 1865, with the Sixth United States Cavalry, which was stationed here to keep order after the Civil War. He served as an aide to General George Custer, who commanded Union troops in Austin until early 1866. Orsay was discharged in April of 1868 from the U.S. Army, but stayed on under military authority in the Civil Service until September 1870, when he began work in the Adjutant General's Office. He was the chief clerk there until 1900, a key position during an important period in Texas and Austin history. It was during that Reconstruction period that Governor Edmund Davis used the state militia to restore civil order after the Civil War; that Davis and Richard Coke both claimed to be governor which led to a weeks-long, armed standoff at the State Capitol; that both the Adjutant General's Office and Camp Mabry were established
The house was moved to Pioneer Farms in August 2006 to save it from demolition. Funds are now being raised for its restoration.
Sources: Austin History Center, Pioneer Farms Archives.