Howard-Dickinson House
Henderson, Rusk County, Texas
Marker Inscription
First brick home in county. Built 1855 by brothers, David P. and Jas. Logan Howard, settlers from Richmond, Va. The Howards made bricks with mud mill and later with a patented machine and kiln on the premises. (Howard bricks and carpentry went into the old courthouse on Square-- and most of the city's major construction in later 1800s.) Structure is iron-reinforced; has hand-wrought woodwork and oldest plastered walls in city. A frequent visitor in early years to this house was Texas statesman Sam Houston, a cousin of Martha Ann (Mrs. Dave) Howard. The home was bought 1905 by Mrs. M. C. Dickinson, the daughter of Dr. Alfred Graham, a pioneer physician of Rusk County. To the original house, the Dickinsons added frame wing at the rear.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Brothers David and James Howard, settlers from Richmond, Virginia, built Rusk County's first brick home here in 1855, molding the bricks on site with a mud mill and later a patented machine and kiln. Their bricks went into the old courthouse and much of the town's later construction. Texas statesman Sam Houston, a cousin of David Howard's wife, was a frequent early guest.
Why it matters
The house documents the craft and enterprise of antebellum Texas settlers—and its brush with Sam Houston ties an ordinary frontier home to the giants of the young republic.
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Related people
- · David P. Howard
- · James Logan Howard
- · Sam Houston
Themes & tags
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