Metz House
Sherman, Grayson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Edward Metz (1854-1913) came to Texas from Michigan as a young man to join his brother, Charles, in a leather goods business. In the 1870s, they built a profitable trade, buying buffalo hides and other furs from Indian tribes in Oklahoma to sell to eastern markets. Metz is credited with helping keep peace between the Indians and settlers in Grayson County. In 1883 he built this house, with Victorian fish scale siding, as a present for his bride, Lillian (Craycroft). Occupied from 1909 to 1939 by prominent local physician Dr. J. D. Meadow, it was restored in 1975-76 by Byron Rice (b. 1957). Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1976
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Edward Metz came from Michigan as a young man to join his brother Charles in the leather trade, and in the 1870s the pair built a thriving business buying buffalo hides and furs from tribes in Oklahoma for sale to eastern markets. Credited with helping keep peace between Native peoples and settlers in Grayson County, Metz built this Victorian house with fish-scale siding in 1883 as a gift for his bride. Later home to a prominent local physician, it was restored in the mid-1970s.
Why it matters
The house links the vanishing buffalo-hide trade of the frontier economy to the settled Victorian prosperity that followed it in North Texas.
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Related people
- · Edward Metz
Themes & tags
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