The first records for the Enfield Realty and Home Building Company begin with Articles of Incorporation dated January 28, 1916. Officers were W. M. (Murray) Graham, R. Niles Graham, and Paul Crusemann. That spring the company rented offices and bought a safe, “sold” signs, stationery, and newspaper ads. The company was not yet listed in the 1916 City Directory, but Enfield Rd. is listed for the first time from Windsor Rd. southwest to two blocks northwest of W. 12th St. No houses had yet been built on Enfield Rd.
First known advertisement for lots in Enfield
The first known ad for Enfield Realty appeared Sunday, May 14 in the Austin Statesman and refers to “Austin’s exclusive residential section.” On May 27 the monthly social paper, Gossip, mentioned plans for a “picturesque new addition” and its September 23 ad shows a picture of the curved rock wall in Enfield Rd. just west of Parkway. This extant structure contains a drain for a periodic spring. It is part of the first built environment of Enfield, along with streets.
The City Lot Register and City Directories document house building by year but not by order of construction. It is not possible to name them in this summary, except to say that many of the prominent leaders of Austin, of UT, and of state government lived in Enfield. Also, this summary only covers Enfield A, not the many sections that were built west of it to the railroad. Into the middle of the century.