Garden Club

The Anderson Mill Garden Club was formed in May, 1955, when 15 women who lived in the Volente, Hudson's Bend, Jonestown area split off from the larger Burnet Road Garden Club, to form a club of their own. They named their new organization in honor of the historic old mill which had been such an important early influence in the area. The new club had 35 charter members. We now have over 50 members, including the daughter of a charter member (Gerry Wood) and the great-great-granddaughter of Thomas and Lucy Anderson (Nancy Cochran).

The garden club ladies first met in the homes of their members. Mrs. Ada Zilker Robinson, daughter of Andrew Zilker, who gave Austin the land where Zilker Park and the Austin Garden Center are today, was a charter member. The story goes that her husband, John, hated to see his wife spend so much time cleaning house before she entertained the garden club ladies. He said he would donate money to build a clubhouse, if someone would donate the land. And someone did!

The Schulze brothers, Thomas and Bob, owned part of the original 40 acre tract where Thomas Anderson had built his mill. They graciously donated a parcel in honor of their mother, Anna. Robinson Hall was built in 1961, and the ladies held their first meeting there in December of that year. The ladies then built a replica of the famous old mill, complete with mill wheel,

finishing it in 1966. Mr. Robinson then donated money for another building, which was dedicated as Mrs. J.F. Robinson Museum on Oct. 1, 1972. It replicates an outbuilding which stood by the mill, and it contains many items owned by the Anderson family, along with those of other pioneering families of the area.

The 1966 mill wheel was restored in 1986. At that time the mill was dedicated to Mrs. Minnie Anderson Hensel, granddaughter of the Thomas and Lucy, the same young girl who used to deliver mail by horseback. It became known as Miss Minnie's Mill. She was not a charter member, but was an active member until her death at the age of 102 in 1989.