Moore Home
Richmond, Fort Bend County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Occupied by three generations of the Moore family, this house was built in 1883 by John M. Moore (1862-1940) for his bride Lottie (Dyer). A prosperous rancher, Moore served in the state legislature and from 1905 to 1913 in the U. S. Congress. He remodeled this structure in 1905 from its original Victorian design to a Neo-classical style popular in the early 20th century. Richmond's First Baptist Church was founded in this house and noted politicians and cattlemen often visited here. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1962
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
John M. Moore built this Richmond house in 1883 for his bride Lottie, and as a prosperous rancher he went on to serve in the state legislature and in the U.S. Congress from 1905 to 1913. That same year he remodeled the home from its original Victorian design into the fashionable Neo-classical style. Richmond's First Baptist Church was founded within its walls, and cattlemen and politicians were frequent guests.
Why it matters
The house marks the intersection of ranching wealth and political power that shaped Texas at the turn of the 20th century.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · John M. Moore
- · Lottie Dyer Moore
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
City of Richmond
Richmond, TX
Settled in 1822 by members of Stephen F. Austin's colony as 'Fort Settlement,' Richmond was formally laid out in 1837 and named for Richmond, Virginia, becoming county seat in 1838. Among its residents were Jane Long, the 'Mother of Texas,' and scout Erastus 'Deaf' Smith, both buried nearby, and the arrival of Texas's first railroad in 1855 brought new prosperity. Later the town saw saloon-smasher Carry Nation run a hotel and the violent 1889 Jaybird-Woodpecker feud climax in a shootout on Courthouse Square.
Fort Bend County Courthouse
Richmond, TX
Dedicated in 1909, this is the fifth courthouse to serve Fort Bend County, organized back in 1837 in the heart of Stephen F. Austin's original colony. Austin architect C. H. Page gave it a full Classical Revival treatment — a copper dome and statue, a three-story rotunda, mosaic floors, and green glazed tile — the kind of civic showpiece a prospering county built to announce its permanence. Later additions in 1935 and 1957 kept it at the center of county life.
St. John's United Methodist Church
Richmond, TX
Methodist missionaries reached the Richmond area in the 1820s, when this stretch of the Brazos River was the frontier of Stephen F. Austin's colony, and the congregation formally organized in 1839 under the Rev. Jesse Hord. Its early rolls included members of Austin's famous "Old 300" — the first Anglo-American families to settle Texas under Mexican rule. The handsome Gothic revival brick sanctuary that stands today was built in 1922.
Jane Long Boarding House
Richmond, TX
Jane Wilkinson Long earned the name "Mother of Texas" through the winter of 1821, when—stranded at Point Bolivar with her small daughter and an enslaved girl named Kian while her husband's filibustering expedition marched into Mexico—she gave birth in a snowstorm and then rose to gather food and firewood for her family. In the decades that followed she ran two of the most famous boarding houses of the colonial and republic eras, hosting William B. Travis, Sam Houston, and Mirabeau B. Lamar. On this Richmond site she opened a house in 1837 that became a hub of Texas social and political life until her plantation prospered in the 1840s.