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Magoffin Homestead

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Built
  
1875

TSAL #
  
8200000240

Designated TSHS
  
1976

Area
  
6,070 m²

Added to NRHP
  
31 March 1971

NRHP Reference #
  
71000931

RTHL #
  
3183

Opened
  
1875

Phone
  
+1 915-533-5147

Magoffin Homestead

Location
  
1120 Magoffin Ave El Paso, Texas

Address
  
1120 Magoffin Ave, El Paso, TX 79901, USA

Hours
  
Closed now Friday9AM–5PMSaturday9AM–5PMSunday12–5PMMondayClosedTuesday9AM–5PMWednesday9AM–5PMThursday9AM–5PM

Similar
  
Chamizal National Memorial, Hueco Tanks State Hist, Wyler Aerial Tramway, National Border Patrol Mu, Centennial Museum and Chih

Profiles

Magoffin Home is located in El Paso, Texas. It was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971. The surrounding area was declared the Magoffin Historic District on February 19, 1985. The home is now known as the Magoffin Home State Historic Site under the authority of the Texas Historical Commission.

The Magoffin Home, built in 1875, is a combination of the local adobe style combined with Greek revival details and is an example of the Territorial style. The thick adobe walls keep the house cool in the summer heat and warm in the winter. The house consists of three wings, each built at a different time, the last being built in the 1880s as the center that connected the two previous wings. There are 19 rooms, 8 fireplaces, and 14-foot (4.3 m) ceilings. Members of the family lived in it for 110 years, and many of the original furnishings are still displayed, including a 13-foot-tall (4.0 m) half-canopy bed.

Built by pioneer Joseph Magoffin, he lived there with his wife, Octavia (MacGreal) until their deaths. Their daughter, Josephine, who had married William Jefferson Glasgow, a future Brigadier General in an extravaganza newspapers hailed as the 'wedding of the century', inherited the house. The last member of the family to live in the home was Octavia Magoffin Glasgow, Josephine's daughter, who died in 1986. Shy but friendly spirits reportedly still inhabit the home.

After retiring from the military, the Glasgows returned to El Paso, Texas and remodeled the interior of the home, installing gas heat, updating plumbing and electrical service, and modernizing the kitchen. The remodeling including removing the Victorian wallpapers and the canvas ceilings. In 1976, the home was sold to the City and State, although Joseph's granddaughter, Octavia Magoffin Glasgow, retained lifetime tenancy and continued to live in the home until her death in 1986. In 1977-1978, the house was restored by historic preservationist Eugene George, a professor of the School of Architecture at the University of Texas at Austin.

The homestead is located at 1120 Magoffin Ave. in El Paso, Texas and is currently jointly owned by the City of El Paso and the State of Texas. It has been maintained by the Texas Historical Commission since 2008 when authority of that agency was transferred from the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department which had overseen the historic site since 1976. There is a historical marker. The Casa Magoffin Companeros (Friends of the Magoffin Home) host several annual events at the home, including a Victorian Tea in May and a Holiday Tea and Reception in December.

References

Magoffin Homestead Wikipedia


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