Some of Lakeway’s History (unfortunately) NOT Preserved

One of the mysteries we have been working on for several months, is: “what happened to the first custom home in Lakeway, 104 Highlander?”  With the help of Lakeway 300 resident David Crutcher, who has access to historical title records, the mystery is solved. Thanks David!

 

A little historical background:

The developers of Lakeway realized in 1964 that building a few homes was critical to show a sign of activity in the area. Many of those homes were speculative, but Al and Marge Saenger soon became the first people to build a custom home, located at 104 Highlander; they became Lakeway’s first full time residents upon its completion.

The Saengers became very involved in the community, including, after the big fire of August 1967, when Al lead the committee that resulted with the creation of Lakeway’s first volunteer Fire Department.

Per the book, In the Beginning by Dennis Cadman and Byron Varner, Al and Marge were still living at 104 Highlander in 1981 when the book was published.

 

The search for 104 Highlander:

Mike Boston from the Heritage Commission provided this original photo (left) of the home during construction. Thanks Mike!

For those of you who have attended one of Mike Threinen’s presentations, we had thought this was actually the home next door to 104 Highlander, which looks very similar, and sometime in history, the addresses had been switched. This was supported by the fact that Lakeway had an architectural review committee that did not allow similar home designs to be built near each other, and, the home in the picture, looked very similar to the home that exists next door to 104 Highlander today.

However, with aid of Davids’ data, unfortunately, we have determined what happened to the Saenger’s home:

This photo was most likely taken from Highlander Cove, not Highlander. While not completely clear, it does change the perspective and the looks of the home. OR, the writing on the back of the original photo, just MAY be incorrect and is NOT the Saenger home after all! However, it does not change the accuracy of the following data summary:

 

  • The Saenger’s bought lot 263 of Lakeway, sec 2 on Aug 28, 1963.
  • The more modern house today is on lot #263 and was constructed in late 1989.
  • The house on lot 265, 108 Highlander, appears to have been built in mid 1966, by George & Marry Morris, so is a different home.

So, unfortunately the first custom home in Lakeway is lost to us forever, replaced with new construction in 1989.

However, according to Lakeway history books, Jack and Bertie Grantham built their custom home at 131 Lakeway Drive at about the same time as Al and Marge Saenger built on Highlander, and that home is still there!

 

Join our next meeting for the Lakeway 300 Project to hear more about Lakeway’s history and be part of preserving it and building the “Old Lakeway” neighborhood. Our goal is to prevent this type of tear-down from continuing. Our mission: “Preserving Lakeway’s history through its homes and forming a neighborhood known and ‘Old Lakeway’.”