ROCKWALL – A 196-acre family homestead dating back to the 1880s is about to become the site for a 490-home housing development.
The community, appropriately called Homestead, is being developed by Plano-based Shaddock Homes. It will be at the intersection of FM549 and FM1139. Shaddock broke ground March 22.
Drees Homes and Coventry Homes will build in the development alongside Shaddock. Home construction will begin in summer 2024. The first homes should become available around May 2025.
The property was home to a two-story farmhouse built by William Lawson Lawhorn and his wife Martha Kara in 1880, according to the Rockwall County Historical Foundation. Lawhorn served under Robert E. Lee in the Civil War and migrated to Texas by wagon train.
The Lawhorns sold the property to Ben and Norma Klutts in 1942 for agricultural use. Ben Klutts, who died in 2003, served two terms as Rockwall mayor and owned several local businesses. The land was in the Klutts family until they sold it to the developers in 2021.