Fry - Butcher House
Red Oak, Ellis County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Sam and Sarah Jane "Jennie" Fry purchased 150 arces here in 1882. Aided by noted local carpenter Lewis Butcher, the Frys built this farmhouse in 1883. The house is an excellent local example of the Queen Anne architectural style and features a gable roof, turned-wood porch posts, and jig-sawn brackets and porch friezes. The property eventually passed to George A. Butcher, Jennie's son from a previous marriage, and remained in the family until 1986.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
In 1882 Sam and Sarah Jane "Jennie" Fry bought 150 acres of Ellis County blackland prairie, and the next year raised a farmhouse with the help of local carpenter Lewis Butcher. Its turned-wood porch posts, jig-sawn brackets, and gabled roof made it a proud example of the Queen Anne style then fashionable even on Texas farms. The home stayed in the family for over a century, passing to Jennie's son George A. Butcher before finally leaving family hands in 1986.
Why it matters
Modest rural houses like this show how far Victorian architectural fashion traveled into the American countryside, and how a single family's land could anchor a place for generations.
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Related people
- · Sam Fry
- · Sarah Jane "Jennie" Fry
- · Lewis Butcher
- · George A. Butcher
Themes & tags
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