Residential Restoration

By Ashley Keenan

If you would have told me when I was a teenager playing hide-and-seek on and around the square, on top of buildings, in the hidden courtyards, that downtown Crockett would become a tourism hotspot, I wouldn’t have believed you. Yet, real estate is moving, construction is underway, Saturdays on the square are a sight for sore eyes, and residential occupancy is no longer forbidden. For decades, West Goliad Street was a ghost town with Whitley’s Resale and Knox Furniture being the only consistent businesses. In the last two years, the west side of the square has grown to be the busiest part of downtown Crockett. e Arnold Cotton Co. building, built in 1901, had a vintage neon sign that captured the attention of some, but most thought the building was a lost cause. at is, until Robin and Ronnie Ogg passed through, or so they thought.

“We were driving through Crockett, and we saw the Tchoupitoulas Hotel. We were on our way to a chopper show, so we said on the way back let’s stop in Crockett and check it out. We’d already sold our house in Seabrook, and we were looking all over the country to buy. We wanted a space where we could do our motorcycle parts, essentially, we could be anywhere, because we ship those all over the world. We looked at Tchoupitoulas, but it didn’t really t our needs. We walked two buildings down and looked inside the Arnold Cotton Co. building. It was huge! I learned a er that that it was 5,000 square feet and about 40% caved in. However, the ticket price was just right.”

With chill hop music in the background, di users lling the air with a calming and natural aroma, gigantic windows allowing beams of sunlight into the open concept home, it was impossible not to be utterly impressed. e windows were salvaged from the old Crockett High School that was torn down last year, but so were the doors. And, the rst thing that caught my eye when I walked in, a large bookshelf, lled with books but also acting as a wall, also from the old school. She regrets not buying the ooring before demolition. One of the most impressive things about the home, the bathroom is in a bank vault.

“I just happened to see the two guys that own Bear Hall, the whole entity across the street, they mentioned that they were going to have a music venue, in essence. I thought, this could be the perfect location.” e Ogg’s stayed that Sunday night and Robin put in a contract the following Monday morning.

“Two months later, it went through. We pulled up in an old RV that we had restored, because that’s what we were living in for the time being while our other home was closing. We pulled into town like the Clampetts and got to work the day we signed the contract. We did 90% of the work. e remaining 10% was with friends who were willing to come up and put their hands on the building. e budget didn’t allot for hiring a contractor. Ronnie and I had done a lot of restoration as far as vintage campers go, but nothing on this scale.”

It was clear, as I looked around the room, each time my eyes nding something even more unique, that each piece in the home was vintage, hand created, repurposed, and aesthetically unlike anything else I’d ever seen in Houston County. Modern, earthy, and sophisticated.

“We have our workspace to the street, which we really wanted to preserve that natural building there. en breaking o what is the home, which is 1,500 square feet, and into what is the patio, which is 1,000 square feet. e patio will have an outdoor kitchen, outdoor shower, hot tub, brick oven. I’m from the coast. I love foliage. I’m looking into doing aquaponics. Instead of fertilizing your water like with hydroponics, you use sh to cycle through their habitat and they, in turn, fertilize your plants.”

When I asked about the hurdles of having a residence downtown, a er downtown was zoned as non-residential years ago, Robin said, “Before putting the contract in, I called John Angerstein at the City of Crockett, I told him my plans and my rst question was, ‘What is the living situation downtown? Can we do residential commercial?’ He said that it hadn’t passed yet, but it was already in the process.” e Beasley building is also going to be Airbnb. ere are so many nooks and crannies that could be really, really cool spaces in this town. It just takes folks that are open to vision, looking past what is there right now and evolving the space.”

“ e Masonic Lodge building will also be residential commercial. I believe that one oor, I may be wrong, but one oor will be commercial, one oor will be residential, one oor will be Airbnb.

Since purchasing the historic building in October of 2021, Robin has become the Vice President of the Downtown Crockett Association, and could be cited as one of the driving forces behind the progress Crockett is seeing.

“A few years ago, I read an article in Texas Monthly about how my generation was coming back to towns like Crockett, bringing their businesses, and helping bring them back to life. is is still a small town. ese businesses and the squares are going to thrive o tourism. When I got here, as a tourist, I thought, ‘ is place is cool. Why? Why have I never been here before?’ I kept asking myself that. Well, there was no online presence. e City of Crockett website, but I don’t need to pay a water bill. e Chamber of Commerce website, but unfortunately the chamber can’t encompass everything because they’re obligated to host their members. at’s why I jumped into helping the Downtown Crockett Association build discovercrocketttx.com.”

Robin recently attended a Texas Music Trail event in Galveston in hopes of placing Crockett on the trail. “I’m huge into blues, jazz music, I got that from spending every Sunday in New Orleans with my mom listening to the music on the street. It’s pretty much the same concept in Galveston. I thought, to by a live music spot, especially with Camp Street having so much music history, I’d love to help the city get on the Texas Music Trail.”

Robin, Ronnie and their two children aren’t nished with the restoration of their property. eir next step will be the oors of the home, raising the living room and primary bedroom space up two steps. In the meantime, they’ll continue to work on their patio area and bring that space to life.

As far as their commercial space, Robin has a plan.

“We want to evolve half of our commercial space into an art gallery. We build two to three bikes and one or two hot rods per year, generally. We build parts, sissy bars, they’re 30 inches tall. What I realized is, and this is part of the evolution of business, there’s a lot of money stopping here every weekend. ey aren’t coming into our space because they see motorcycles. If they aren’t into motorcycles, why would they? I understand that. I told my husband that I’d like put the motorcycles on one side and evolve the other side into a metal art gallery. I’ll open both doors on the weekend, put a really rad, vertical, art deco, metal sign out front and get people to start walking in.

“ e goal is to have three separate spaces that are really unique in one large space.”

Robin has many irons in the re (no pun intended). Her plans for Crockett’s growth are evident. Choosing Crockett, when they could have chosen anywhere. Robin and Ronnie both agreed that no “day o ,” is actually a day o . e work continues on their property, but plans for the prosperity of Crockett are always in the back of Robin’s mind, and raising a family is no easy task. Her e orts, enthusiasm, and her vision of possibility for Crockett can only be compared to breathing fresh air.

“In ve years, this place is going to rockin’ and rollin’. e wave is coming, we have to be ready for it.”