Majors Home
Colorado City, Mitchell County, Texas
Marker Inscription
One of first brick houses here. Built 1883 by Mr. and Mrs. J.P. Hodgson, son-in-law and daughter of Gen. Tom Green, Texas hero. Later the home of Winfield Scott, millionaire rancher, and W.T. Scott, a promoter, T. & P. Railroad. Owned since 1902 by Dr. Majors' Family. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1966,
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Built in 1883, this was one of Colorado City's first brick houses, raised by J. P. Hodgson and his wife — a daughter of Texas hero General Tom Green. It later sheltered a succession of West Texas notables, including millionaire rancher Winfield Scott and a promoter of the Texas & Pacific Railroad. Dr. Majors' family has owned it since 1902.
Why it matters
A durable brick home on the raw West Texas plains signaled permanence and ambition, and its roster of owners maps the ranching and railroad money that built the region.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
In the early 1880s, Colorado City was one of the new towns of West Texas. The Texas & Pacific Railway was building west across the plains, and wherever the tracks arrived, towns grew almost overnight. Colorado City became a busy shipping point for cattle, with ranch money flowing in and a population that seemed to double every season.
In a boomtown on open, nearly treeless plains, most early buildings were quick and makeshift: wood frame, canvas, whatever could be hauled in. A brick house was a statement. It meant the builders expected to stay and believed the town would last beyond the boom.
This house was built in 1883, a few years after the railroad reached the area. It went up while West Texas was changing from buffalo range and open country into ranches, railroad towns and county seats.
People & events
The house was built by J. P. Hodgson and his wife. She was a daughter of General Tom Green, whom the marker calls a Texas hero. Green was a well-known figure in 19th-century Texas. He served in the Texas Revolution and later as a Confederate general, and he was killed in 1864 during the Civil War. Tom Green County in West Texas is named for him. His daughter's home in Colorado City connects the house to an earlier generation of Texas history.
The house then passed to Winfield Scott, whom the marker describes as a millionaire rancher. He shares his name with the famous 19th-century U.S. Army general but is a different man. He was part of the cattle wealth that transformed Texas in these decades. The marker also names W. T. Scott, a promoter of the Texas & Pacific Railroad, the line that had brought Colorado City to life in the first place.
In 1902 the house came to the family of Dr. Majors, and it has stayed with them ever since. That is why it bears their name. In 1966 it was recognized as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark.
Its place in the American story
Across the American West, railroads created towns. When a line like the Texas & Pacific reached the plains, towns appeared along it, cattle had a way to reach distant markets, and investors and settlers followed. The people connected with the Majors Home were exactly those people: ranchers, railroad promoters and the families who stayed.
The house also shows how Texas memory passed from one generation to the next. A daughter of a man who fought in the Texas Revolution and the Civil War settled in a railroad town that barely existed a few years before. In one family, the story moved from the Republic to the Gilded Age West.
The brick also matters. On a frontier of temporary buildings, permanent materials showed confidence in the future. Many early houses on the plains have vanished, and each survivor holds a piece of the story of how the West was settled.
If you visit
Colorado City is a quiet West Texas town now, but take a look around and you can still see traces of its boom years. Notice how the railroad shapes the town's layout. Then look at this house and picture how it stood out among the plain wooden buildings of the 1880s.
The house has long been a family home. Enjoy it from the street and respect the owners' privacy.
Colorado City is an easy stop on a drive across West Texas along the old Texas & Pacific route. It is a good place to think about how much depended on the tracks: cattle markets, towns and houses like this one that were built to last.
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
- · J. P. Hodgson
- · Tom Green
- · Winfield Scott
Themes & tags
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