Dr. John S. and Mary McCelvey House
Temple, Bell County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Completed about 1906 for Dr. John S. McCelvey (1870-1964) and his fiancee, Mary Horne (1881-1960), this house was erected of concrete blocks cast on the Horne family plantation near Waco. The McCelveys built the north wing addition and garage and servants' quarters in 1927. Dr. McCelvey was a prominent local physician affiliated with the King's Daughters Hospital and was active in state medical associations. Mary McCelvey was active in Temple social and civic affairs. The house was designed in an eclectic Gothic style with an asymmetrical plan, wraparound porch with chamferred corners, and stone piers with urns. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1999
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Completed around 1906, this Temple home was built for physician Dr. John S. McCelvey and his bride Mary Horne, its walls cast from concrete blocks made on the Horne family plantation near Waco. Dr. McCelvey became a prominent local doctor tied to King's Daughters Hospital, while Mary was active in the town's social and civic life. The eclectic Gothic design—with its wraparound porch, chamfered corners, and urn-topped stone piers—reflects the confident domestic architecture of a rising Central Texas town.
Why it matters
The house preserves the early-20th-century world of a small Texas city's professional class and the civic-minded families who shaped it.
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Related people
- · John S. McCelvey
- · Mary Horne McCelvey
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Nora Lee Mayhew Wendland
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A classically trained violinist educated at Cornell and what is now Texas Woman's University, Nora Lee Mayhew Wendland made central Texas a center for music advocacy. She led state and national music clubs, and during World War II pioneered music therapy programs for wounded soldiers at Temple's McCloskey Army General Hospital, work that later spread across Texas. In her later years she co-founded Temple's Cultural Activities Center, a model for multidisciplinary arts organizations.
Cultural Activities Center
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King's Daughters Hospital
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In 1893 the Temple chapter of the King's Daughters and Sons, a Protestant charitable order made up largely of educated women, set out to provide care for the town's poor. They rented rooms in a small house and opened King's Daughters Hospital in 1896, appointing staff physicians and a superintendent, Cornelia Parsons. Considered ahead of its time, the institution grew into a lasting provider of affordable medical care.