Hill Country homes and "Early Texas Architecture" (2000) by Gordon Echols are both excellent reference material. Hill Country homes The term, "Hill Country homes", refers to an architectural style of housing found in the part of central Texas, known as the Texas Hill Country. In the early history of the Republic of Texas, before Texas joined the United States, a land rush began in the middle of the 19th century. This land rush to central Texas included many immigrants from Germany. They created settlements with names like Fredricksburg, Bergheim, Boerne, Gruene, New Braunfels, and many others. These early German immigrants to Texas made
Coleman Homes fierce competition with their rival, Kyle Carter Homes, who also built homes in Bakersfield. Tom Coleman's son, Tom Coleman, Jr. revived the company name in the Boise, Idaho market shortly after the sale of his father's Bakersfield operations in the mid-2000's. Coleman built a wide range of homes throughout the company's lifetime. They were known to build production homes as little as 1100 square feet to semi-custom homes that were as large as 3500 square feet. This diversity allowed Coleman to appeal to an extremely wide range of buyers which helped them achieve their status as Bakersfield's #1 home builder