Now that he was settled in Burnet, things were fixing to happen fast. Logan and his best friend William Magill obtained a contract to supply meat to Fort Croghan and later to Fort Mason, fifty miles away. In 1852, Logan led the effort to present a petition to the state legislature, establishing the county of Burnet with the city of Burnet as the county seat. A post office was needed for the town, and Logan was appointed as the first postmaster. In 1853, Logan and Magill opened the first school in Burnet. They hired William Dixon, graduate of Oxford University. Classes taught included French, Latin, mathematics, geography, history, elocution, and philosophy. In 1854, Logan built the first substantial building in Burnet, a historic rock structure that still stands today in perfect condition one block south of the courthouse. Logan opened a store on the first floor and the upper floor became a Masonic Lodge and is still used as such by the Masons today. He also built a 2-room stone house in Burnet which has walls 2 feet thick as the Bluebonnet House which also has double walls. In the 1970s the house was donated to the Burnet County Historical Commission who moved it from its existing location to Fort Croghan where it stands today.
Now that you have seen some of the things Logan Vandeveer has done, see what kind of person he was considered to be by some of the people who knew him personally. General Adam Rankin Johnson, founder of Marble Falls, described him in the Austin American newspaper in 1915. “He was 6 feet 4 inches in height. Black hair, olive skin, eyes dark and piercing. A man of very winning personality and magnetism. One of Texas’ most valiant heroes who has failed to be mentioned in the pages of her histories.” Another called him a “most handsome man of fine physique and striking personality.” And in 1938, a woman described him In the Burnet Bulletin this way “for a time, he was the most outstanding and picturesque citizen of the county.” To be continued…
Coming up next in our series: Facts that prove Logan Vandeveer built the Bluebonnet House, how and where he died too young, how his surviving daughters eventually got the house back even after Logan Vandeveer had sold it, and more.
Read Part 3 of our series here!
