Gibbs-Powell House
Huntsville, Walker County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Built in 1862, this Greek revival house was originally the home of the Thomas Gibbs Family. Used briefly as a rent house and for student housing in the 1880s and 1890s, it was purchased by Judge Ben Powell, II, in 1897. Although altered over the years, the house retains its original character and exhibits stylistic features such as square porch columns and a central entry with transom and sidelights. It became a local history museum in 1984.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This Greek Revival home was built in 1862 for the family of Thomas Gibbs, part of a prominent early Huntsville family. After serving as a rental and student housing in the late 1800s, it was purchased in 1897 by Judge Ben Powell II. Retaining its square porch columns and transom-and-sidelight entry, the house opened as a local history museum in 1984.
Why it matters
As a surviving pioneer-era residence turned museum, the house links Huntsville's founding families to the town's efforts to preserve its own past.
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Related people
- · Thomas Gibbs
- · Ben Powell II
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
First United Methodist Church of Huntsville
Huntsville, TX
Methodism reached Huntsville in the 1840s through circuit-riding preachers before the young Texas Methodist Conference assigned a resident pastor in 1842. The congregation worshiped without a permanent building for years, finally raising its first sanctuary in the 1850s and rebuilding repeatedly as the town grew and fire twice took the structure. Each rebuilding — culminating in the 1913 church — traces the deepening roots of an East Texas town settled in the Republic era.
Walker County
Huntsville, TX
Carved from Montgomery County in 1846, Walker County was first named for U.S. Senator Robert J. Walker, then rededicated to honor Samuel H. Walker, the Texas Ranger and Mexican War hero. Its seat, Huntsville, began as an Indian trading post and got its first courthouse in 1848; after fire destroyed a later one, the present courthouse rose in 1888. Today the county holds part of the Sam Houston National Forest and is home to Sam Houston State College, the oldest state-supported college in Texas.
Old Gibbs Store
Huntsville, TX
Thomas Gibbs opened this store in 1841, during the days of the Republic of Texas, and the present building went up in 1847 after Sanford Saint John Gibbs joined the firm. General Sam Houston was among its steady customers, and the partners drifted into banking after neighbors began storing valuables in their safe—an informal service that grew into Gibbs National Bank in 1890. It is celebrated as the oldest business in Texas under original ownership on its first site.
Walker County
Huntsville, TX
Walker County was carved from Montgomery County in 1846, the year Texas joined the Union, and first honored Robert J. Walker of Mississippi, a leading advocate of annexation. In 1863 the county was pointedly rededicated to Captain Samuel H. Walker, the daring Texas Ranger who fell fighting in Mexico during the U.S.-Mexico War. Huntsville has served as its county seat throughout.