Frontier Colonial Home
Montgomery, Montgomery County, Texas
Marker Inscription
With classic porch. Oldest house in Montgomery, built 1845 by settler from Connecticut, Dr. E. J. Arnold. Earlier home, log cabin built on this lot in 1835, continued in use as doctor's office. For several generations home of Simonton family, descendants of the builder. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1964
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Built in 1845 by Dr. E. J. Arnold, a settler from Connecticut, this is reckoned the oldest house in Montgomery, one of the early towns of the Republic of Texas era. An 1835 log cabin on the lot lived on as a doctor's office, and the home passed down for generations among the builder's Simonton descendants.
Why it matters
The house is a tangible link to the pioneer families who settled East Texas in the founding years of the Republic.
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Related people
- · E. J. Arnold
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Crane Family Cabin
Conroe, TX
Nickolas Crane came to Texas from Alabama in 1848 and, after Confederate service in the Civil War, built this large cabin in 1867 on his land claim, hand-adzing split pine logs smooth on the interior and topping it with a cypress-board roof. The Tharp family moved and restored the cabin in the 1970s, preserving a rare example of post-war frontier homebuilding.
James Jordan (Jardine) Log House
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Born in Ireland around 1790, James Jordan came to Texas in 1826 as part of José Vehlein's colony and built this cabin about 1830 on land granted by the Mexican government. Its hand-hewn pine logs were joined with half-dovetail notching and its chimney fashioned of mud and sticks; the Tharp family moved and restored the house in 1976.
Town of Montgomery
Montgomery, TX
Founded in July 1837 by W. W. Shepherd during the days of the young Republic of Texas, Montgomery gave its name to the county created that December. A slate of commissioners chose it as county seat, a role it held until 1889, and before the Civil War it thrived as an important trade center for the surrounding country. The State of Texas erected this marker in 1936 for the Texas Centennial.
Charles Bellinger Stewart
Montgomery, TX
Charles Bellinger Stewart (1806–1885) came to Texas in 1830 and served as the young republic's first Secretary of State. A signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence, he helped draft both the 1836 Republic constitution and the 1845 state constitution, and later served Montgomery County as district attorney and state representative.