HistoricSiteMarkers
Progressive & Modern Era

Fleming-Welder House

Victoria, Victoria County, Texas

Marker Inscription

Local rancher and postmaster Edward R. Fleming and his wife Lillian (Mueller) hired B. F. Williams to build this house about 1911. Charles and Wilhemina Grunder purchased the property in 1919, and sold it to Eliza Hughes Welder in 1936. Mrs. Welder made changes to the house, and its current colonial revival appearance reflects the period of her ownership. It is distinguished from most colonial revival buildings by its elongated dormers and horizontal lines. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1996

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

Around 1911, rancher and postmaster Edward R. Fleming and his wife Lillian hired builder B. F. Williams to raise this Victoria home. It passed through the Grunder family before Eliza Hughes Welder bought it in 1936 and reshaped it into the Colonial Revival house seen today, distinguished by unusually elongated dormers and strong horizontal lines. Its look reflects the era of Welder's ownership more than its original form.

Why it matters

The house records how early-20th-century Texans reinvented their homes to fashionable national styles โ€” here through the choices of the woman who remade it.

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Related people

  • ยท Edward R. Fleming
  • ยท Eliza Hughes Welder

Themes & tags

Nearby & related markers

Hill-O'Connor-Howard House

Victoria, TX

Built in 1898โ€“99 for attorney Joe L. Hill, this Victorian brick residence was sold in 1905 to Mary V. O'Connor, widow of prominent rancher Dennis O'Connor. During her family's long ownership it housed George Howard, bookkeeper for the O'Connors' sprawling oil, ranching, and banking interests, and became a hub of Victoria's social life. It was recorded as a Texas Historic Landmark in 1981.

Henderson House

Victoria, TX

John W. Henderson, an Arkansas native who prospered in Victoria through insurance, ranching, farming, and real estate, bought this property with his wife Minna in 1909. After relocating an older home from the lot, they built a stately Classical Revival residence designed by Sam H. Dixon and built by Fred Urban. Later it passed to auto dealer and civic leader W.E. Franz, whose widow lived here into the 1950s.