Dr. E. L. and Nannie Lewis Walker House
Gladewater, Gregg County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Edgar Lathgro Walker of Tennessee wed Nannie E. Lewis, a native of Kentucky, in 1891. The couple later brought their two young daughters, Lena and Alma, to Gladewater to visit E.L.'s brother, William, and they decided to stay. Their third daughter, Bessie, was born in Gladewater in 1898. E.L., a graduate of the Cincinnati School of Medicine, opened a medical practice and drugstore. He purchased this site from W.S. and Sara Austin on October 23, 1895, and he and Nannie completed their new home sometime before 1910. Their property eventually extended all the way to the Sabine River and included several barns, a cookhouse, oil wells and derricks, and oil storage tanks. The Walker House, with its main body constructed of concrete blocks, is Neoclassical in design, with a symmetrical façade, pronounced two-story portico, Ionic columns, five-bay front and pedimented dormer window. The three-story structure also has two concrete basements. Initially intended for use as an infirmary, the third floor space served as an attic with access to a rooftop widow's walk. Original features included ten fireplaces, a two-floor elevator and fifteen rooms. A concrete balustrade, too heavy for use on the second-floor porch, became a unique fence. Changes over the years included additional rooms and the removal of the elevator, donated to a World War II scrap metal drive. Following the deaths of her parents, Bessie (Walker) and husband Otto Staerker lived in the house, which stayed in the family until 1969. Subsequent owners have ensured the house remains a landmark, a link to the Walker family and early Gladewater. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2004
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In the boom-era piney woods of East Texas, physician Edgar L. Walker and his wife Nannie put down roots in Gladewater in the 1890s, opening a medical practice and drugstore. Around 1910 they completed this ambitious three-story Neoclassical residence of concrete block, crowned by a two-story Ionic portico and a rooftop widow's walk, and originally meant to double as an infirmary. As oil derricks and storage tanks spread across their land toward the Sabine River, the house became a local landmark—and even surrendered its elevator to a World War II scrap drive.
Why it matters
The Walker House ties one family's story to the transformation of East Texas from a farming frontier into an oil-boom country, where a country doctor could become a landowner among the derricks.
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Related people
- · Edgar Lathgro Walker
- · Nannie E. Lewis Walker
- · Bessie Walker Staerker
Themes & tags
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