Keith-Traylor House
Columbus, Colorado County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Civil War Veteran John Wilbur Keith and his wife, Haseltine Long, daughter of a prominent Beaumont businessman, moved to Columbus in 1870. They built this house about 1871 and in 1875 sold it to local merchant Charles W. Traylor and his wife, Lura (Perry), granddaughter of early Colorado River ferry opeator Benjamin Beason. The Keiths' son, James L., and the Traylors' daughter, Clara, both born in this house, were married here in 1896. Alterations include the addition of a dining room, kitchen, Queen Anne detailing, and a bathroom. The house is a fine local example of late Victorian-era, center-passage design.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Civil War veteran John Wilbur Keith and his wife Haseltine moved to Columbus in 1870 and built this house around 1871, selling it a few years later to merchant Charles W. Traylor and his wife Lura, granddaughter of an early Colorado River ferry operator. Children of both families were born in the house, and in 1896 a Keith son and a Traylor daughter were married there. Successive additions gave the home its Queen Anne detailing and late-Victorian center-passage character.
Why it matters
The intertwined Keith and Traylor families illustrate how the households of merchants and veterans knit together the social fabric of a growing post-Civil War Texas river town.
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Related people
- · John Wilbur Keith
- · Haseltine Long
- · Charles W. Traylor
- · Lura Perry
- · Benjamin Beason
Themes & tags
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