Isham and Texana Tubbs House
Lubbock, Lubbock County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Isham Tubbs (1852-1947) married Texana Spikes (1857-1930) in Kaufman County in 1877. They moved to the Monterey area of Lubbock County circa 1890. Isham became one of the first school board trustees and a charter member of Lubbock's First United Methodist Church. He brought lumber from east Texas by rail and wagon in 1907-08 to build this home, basing it on a magazine sketch admired by Texana. One of the last Queen Anne-style homes in the area, the building also housed two separate living spaces. This provided Isham and Texana, and their children and extended family, privacy and shelter under one roof. Members of the family were still living in the house at the turn of the 21st century. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2002
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Isham and Texana Tubbs married in Kaufman County in 1877 and moved to the Monterey area of Lubbock County around 1890, when the region was just being settled. Isham helped found the local school board and a Methodist congregation, and in 1907–08 he hauled East Texas lumber in by rail and wagon to build this Queen Anne home, modeled on a magazine sketch his wife admired. Its two separate living spaces sheltered the family under one roof.
Why it matters
The house marks the arrival of settled town life on the South Plains, where an early family's church, school, and ambitious home signaled a frontier turning into a community.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
When Isham and Texana Tubbs arrived in Lubbock County around 1890, the South Plains were just opening to permanent settlement. For centuries this high, flat country had been the range of the buffalo and the Comanche. After the buffalo herds were destroyed and the Plains wars ended in the 1870s, ranchers moved in first, and then farmers and townspeople.
The Tubbses settled in the Monterey area, one of the small communities competing to become the county's center. Around 1890 and 1891, rival town groups joined together, and the town of Lubbock grew out of that merger. Families like the Tubbses were the first generation trying to turn open grassland into a town with churches, schools, and lasting homes.
In those years the region was isolated. Lumber, furniture, and almost everything else had to come from far away, often by rail to the nearest railhead and then by wagon across the prairie. Building a fine house on the South Plains took real effort and determination.
People & events
Isham Tubbs and Texana Spikes married in Kaufman County, east of Dallas, in 1877. More than a decade later they moved west to the Monterey area of Lubbock County. They were not just passing through: Isham became one of the area's first school board trustees and a charter member of what became Lubbock's First United Methodist Church. A school and a church were among the first things a new town needed.
The house tells the most personal part of their story. In 1907 and 1908 Isham brought lumber from East Texas, first by rail and then by wagon, to build it. The design came from Texana. She had admired a sketch in a magazine, and the house was based on it. It is easy to picture her finding a picture of the home she wanted, far from where such houses stood, and Isham hauling its timber across hundreds of miles to build it.
The house was also designed for family life. It contained two separate living spaces, so Isham and Texana, their children, and extended family could all live under one roof while keeping some privacy. It worked: family members were still living in the house at the turn of the twenty-first century, roughly 90 years after it was built.
Its place in the American story
The Tubbs House represents a turning point on the American frontier: the moment when a settlement became a community. Across the Great Plains in the late 1800s, families built school districts, founded congregations, and put up homes meant to last. Those were the signs that the open range had become a settled place.
The house also shows how national culture reached the far edges of the country. Magazines and printed design books carried architectural fashions like the Queen Anne style to readers everywhere, and families in remote places could build homes they had seen only on paper. A magazine sketch admired on the South Plains connects this house to a nationwide taste for ornate, picturesque houses.
And the two-household design reflects something lasting in American family life: generations living together and supporting one another, especially in places where help was far away.
If you visit
Look for what makes the house Queen Anne in style. Typical features of that style include irregular shapes, varied rooflines, and decorative details. It is one of the last examples of the style in the area, and it stands out against Lubbock's later buildings.
As you look, remember where the walls came from. This is East Texas lumber carried to a treeless plain, and that alone made the house a statement. Remember that the house has been a private home for most of its life. Enjoy it from the street and respect the property.
The house is a good stop on a tour of Lubbock's history. It pairs well with other sites that tell the story of the city's early settlement, and it helps you picture the town when it was little more than a few families, a school board, and a congregation on the open plains.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · Isham Tubbs
- · Texana Spikes Tubbs
Themes & tags
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