The Haskell House   The historic Haskell House is located at 1703 Waterston within the Clarksville National Register Historic District. The Haskell House is an example of the simple board and batten Cumberland-style architecture that characterized the homes built by early Clarksville residents immediately after the Civil War and helps to represent what life was like for those African Americans. Peter Tucker, a freed slave purchased the land where the Haskell House stands from Governor Elisa Pease and built a home there in about 1875. Sometime between 1887 and 1889, he sold his home to the Mary and Edmund Smith, who helped found the historic Sweet Home Missionary Baptist Church now located on West 11th Street. The Smiths held early meetings of the church in the Haskell House. After the marriage of their daughter to Hezekiah Haskell, who fought on the side of the Union during the Civil War and was also a “Buffalo Soldier”, the couple gave their home to the young couple, who went on to raise their family there. Their son Hezekiah Haskell, Jr. died in the home in the late Seventies. After the death of Hezikiah, Jr., the property where the Haskell House is located became dedicated city parkland and the city ran a senior lunch program in the house until the late Eighties. Once the program ended, the City let the Haskell House deteriorate and had no plans to rehabilitate it. Therefore, the Clarksville Community Development Corporation (CCDC) obtained grants from the Texas Historic Commission and the Austin Conventions and Visitors Bureau to rehabilitate the house, and entered into a long-term use agreement with the City giving the CCDC the right to manage the property. In addition to saving an important part of Clarksville's unique history, the CCDC wants to turn the house into a community meeting space and and museum to historic Clarksville. Presently, the CCDC board sponsors a community garden located behind the Haskell House. Anyone interested in learning about the garden should get in touch with the Garden Coordinator, Melissa Skidmore. The CCDC is raising money to help fund the cost of archivally framing the many historic Clarksville photos it would like to hang inside the house, identifying each photo, purchasing a new AC unit and interior lighting for the house as well as a table and chairs for meetings and events. Anyone interested in donating money to the Haskell House should contact Mary Reed