Mounts House
Denton, Denton County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Robert Noble Mounts (1863-1922) and Nannie Lee (Christal) Mounts (1870-1942) built this home in 1898. The Mounts family came to Denton County in the 1850s from Virginia. In 1857, Robert Mounts’ father, W.H. Mounts, relocated his mercantile business from nearby Alton to the west side of the town square with the move of the Denton County Seat. Robert Mounts’ mother, Mattie (Haynes) Mounts, established the first Sunday School in Denton in 1868, and in 1892, opened the first kindergarten in Denton. This house sits on land once part of the mounts farm where they produced cotton, fruit, and livestock. Robert Mounts was important in furthering the ranching industry in Texas. As a young man, he worked at the 15,000+ acre Gregg Ranch northwest of Denton. After the death of Gregg Ranch owner, William Gregg, in 1889, mounts managed the ranch for many years. In 1899, Robert and Nannie Mounts moved to Hereford, Texas, where he owned a vast ranch consisting of 84,000+ acres and was a County Commissioner, City Councilman, Bank Director, and Charter School Board Trustee. He was one of the foremost stockmen in the panhandle and helped open Texas cattle markets to the north. This Queen Anne Victorian home features clapboard siding, scrolled ornamentation, and typical Eastlake lathe, gouge, and chisel work. The signature diamond window is a visual focal point. The interior features heart-pine floors and wooden ornamentation. The north wing was an early addition to the house, added to accommodate the office space needed when it was used by the Central Presbyterian Church as a minister’s manse from 1919-1943.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Robert Noble Mounts and his wife Nannie built this Queen Anne home in 1898 on land that had been part of the family's Denton County farm, settled after his father relocated the family mercantile to the county seat in 1857. His mother Mattie founded Denton's first Sunday school and first kindergarten. Robert himself became a leading cattleman—managing the vast Gregg Ranch and later owning an 84,000-acre spread near Hereford—helping open Texas cattle markets to the north.
Why it matters
The Mounts family's rise from town merchants to Panhandle ranchers mirrors the larger story of how Texas built its cattle empire.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Robert Noble Mounts
- · Nannie Lee Christal Mounts
- · Mattie Mounts
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Christal House
Denton, TX
James "Jim" Christal was raised by his widowed mother on the Texas frontier and started as a horse wrangler at twelve, eventually cowboying on his cousin Burk Burnett's famous 6666 Ranch. Injuries brought him back to Denton, where he founded the Golden Hoof Farm, ran the Alliance Milling Company, led the Exchange National Bank, and sat on the board of the college that became the University of North Texas. His 1906 High Victorian Italian Villa home, built by Frank Craft, still stands as a monument to his rise.
City of Krum
Krum, TX
Krum grew from an 1876 pioneer settlement known as the Jackson community into a proper town in 1886, when the Gulf, Colorado, and Santa Fe Railway bought land and named the station for railroad official Charles K. Krum. Stores, churches, and a post office quickly followed, but it was the region's rich soil that made Krum famous, drawing renown as one of the largest inland grain markets of the early 1900s. Local wheat even won the grand prize for 'Rainbow Flour' at the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair.
Bartonville
Bartonville, TX
Bartonville grew from post-Texas Revolution settlement along Denton Creek, where fertile sandy soil drew subsistence farmers raising peanuts, cotton, and grain. In 1881 brothers Bentley and James Barton bought ten acres at a busy crossroads; Bentley's store and gristmill prospered, and the settlement soon shed the name "Barton's Mill" for Bartonville. The store remained the town's hub through incorporation, disincorporation, and reincorporation over 130 years, closing only in 2013.
Milliken House
Lewisville, TX
William Dickerson Milliken, a Kentucky-born merchant, opened a store in Lewisville in 1877 and the following year built this frame house of native oak. The siding tells its own story of a pre-railroad economy: it was freighted overland from Jefferson, the busy riverport of East Texas. Home to Milliken, his wife Margaret, and their eight children, the house earned Recorded Texas Historic Landmark status in 1969.