The Stewart-Armstrong house at 1253 West San Antonio Street, with its three gables and two dormers, was built in 1905 by Claud Armstrong and his wife, May. It is owned by Harry and Ellie Stewart, and it is one of the older homes on San Antonio Street.Six different families have owned the house since it was built; however, the Hays County Deed Records trace the ownership of the land on which the house stands back to 1831.

The land passed ownership many times and on October 28, 1867, William Curtis Pitts, and early Hays County settler, purchased 24 acres, which included the land on which the Stewart home is located, for $600.00. On September 27, 1883, Pitts and his wife Ann C. Armstrong deeded the property to John Henry Bishop, their son-in-law, who was President of the Coronal Institute. About that time, Bishop resigned his position to establish Bishop Female College on the 24 acres. The actual school building was erected right next to where the Stewart House still stands. The school was run by the Bishops until 1898. By 1905 portions of the campus were being sold; one 3.38 acre piece was sold to a San Marcos tailor and his wife, Claud and May Armstrong.
The Armstrongs built a warm, comfortable lovely farmhouse which originally had brick columns and stained glass in the upper part of the front window. However, they did not live in their new home for very long. On July 2, 1907, they sold their home to I.G. Hubbard, a gentleman and his family from Illinois. Then in 1919, after Mr. Hubbard’s death, the house sold to Sanders Dykes. Dykes owned a mercantile store known as the Katy store. In 1927, he sold the property to Ora Parman. She and her husband, A.J. Parman, ran a small dairy on the property. The Parmans deeded the house to their son, C.D., and his wife, Carolyn. The Parman families lived in the home 41 years, selling it in 1968 to Jerry and Gayle Zavesky. Jerry owned the Parlor Barber Shop. Then, in 1971, the home was sold to Harry and Ellie Stewart. Each succeeding family made changes in the house, shaping it to their own dreams and necessities; although, the original part of the house is essentially the same as when it was built in 1905.

After Harry retired as an Air Force Major, they chose San Marcos as a good place to put their five children through college and to be close to Harry’s San Marcos relatives and Ellie’s parents in Cuernavaca, Mexico. They loved the house, but realized that they needed more space than the three upstairs bedrooms. Two more bedrooms, a third bath, and a sun porch were added at the back, and “the new room” ( a lovely family sitting room patterned on a similar room at Ellie’s parents’ house in Cuernavaca) was added on the east side of the house, giving the little Victorian style house a total of five bedrooms, three baths, a parlor, den , sitting room, dining room and kitchen.

Today it is a bright, gracious home, filled with antique furniture and china collected by Ellie and Harry over the years and with many special places handed down to them by their families. For example, when you walk into the front parlor, your eye may fall on a well-traveled little spinning wheel brought along by Ellie’s Irish ancestors in 1820's when they migrated to Canada.

Clocks chime from all directions. A German clock ticks from the mantel on the parlor, a grandfather clock from a convent in Mexico City talks back to an English “long-case” clock in the den. Clocks, family treasures, antiques, dogs and old houses are all loves shared by the Stewarts.

Once you have toured the inside of the Stewart’s lovely home, be sure to go into the backyard. It is interesting because it has a large variety of plants that do well in Texas; and the plants are labeled. The backyard is more of a botanical garden.