James N. Davis House
Galveston, Galveston County, Texas
Marker Inscription
James Nathaniel "Nat" Davis (d. 1902) built this two-story galleried residence in 1899. The designer was Charles W. Bulger, a Galveston architect. As a reporter for the Galveston Daily News, Davis wrote some of the earliest accounts of the destructive 1900 hurricane. After he drowned two years later, his wife Ella (Rust) rented several rooms of the house. One tenant, Frank Chauncy Patten (1855-1934), was the first librarian of Galveston's Rosenberg Library. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1979
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Newspaperman Nat Davis built this galleried two-story home in 1899, designed by Galveston architect Charles W. Bulger. As a reporter for the Galveston Daily News, Davis wrote some of the first accounts of the catastrophic 1900 hurricane; he drowned two years later, after which his widow rented rooms to boarders — among them Frank Chauncy Patten, the first librarian of the city's Rosenberg Library.
Why it matters
The house ties the human story of America's deadliest natural disaster to the reporters and readers who first grasped its scale.
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Related people
- · James Nathaniel Davis
- · Charles W. Bulger
- · Frank Chauncy Patten
Related events
- · Galveston hurricane of 1900
Themes & tags
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