A Guide to the History of Richardson, Texas: Cemeteries

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Historic Structures in or near Richardson

HILL-ROBBERSON HOUSE

Hill-Robberson House on Spring Creek Farm
The Hill-Robberson House as it looked, from the rear, when it stood on the grounds of Spring Creek Farm. Photo by Michael Barera.

The Hill-Robberson House in its present location, adjacent to the RFD Training Center. Author photo.

The Hill-Robberson House, which stood for decades on the Owens Spring Creek Farm, is now temporarly located adjacent to the Richardson Fire Department Training Center on Lookout Drive (as of December 2021). What's notewworthy about it, in addition to its Victorian-era architectural style, is that it wss inhabited, at different times, by two noteworthy Richardson educators.

The house's original location was 206 Sherman Street, where it was constructed about 1887, after its first occupant, Albert Henry Hill, principal of the Wheeler School from 1886 to 1889, purchased lot number 1, block 36, from the Houston & Texas Central Railroad on October October 18, 1886.

A native of Allen County, Kentucky (born October 8, 1857), Hill was twenty-nine-years-old and a newly-wed when he and his wife, Lottie, arrived in Texas. What brought them to Richardson, of all the places they might have gone, has been lost to history, but with so many residents either born in or with family connections to Kentucky, it's unlikely that Hill just turned up, looking for a job. Perhaps he already knew some people in the area.

In addition to tending to the students at the Wheeler School, Professor Hill is noteworthy in Richardson history as the publisher of the town's first newspaper, The Richardson News, which was started in 1886.

In 1907, Margaret A. Robberson purchased the house for her unmarried daughter, Belle, who was born in Dallas on July 21, 1879.

According to an obituary published in the Richardson Echo in 1940, the year that "Miss Belle" died, she was educated in Dallas, and then taught school at Corsicana before becoming a public school teacher in Richardson. In addition to teaching, she was very active in both civic and church affairs and belonged to several clubs.

Sometime after moving into the house, Belle Robberson opened a private kindergarten, which she operated until about 1939, when she became ill and went to live with a sister in Dallas, where she died on April 11, 1940. From all accounts, she was very popular with her students and a much beloved member of the community.

After Jean and Albert Lowe donated the house to the City of Richardson in 1979, in memory of Sterling and Bernice Couch, it was moved to Spring Creek Farm, where it remained until May 2021, when it was moved to its present location, pending a decision by the city as to where to place it. It was designated a Texas Hsitoric Landmark in 1982, the first such designated place in Richardson.

Location: Temporarily at Richardson Fire Department Fire Training and Emergency Operations Center, 1621 E. Lookout Drive, Richardson (previously located on grounds of Owens Country Sausage Farm)