Newburn-Rawlinson House
Jacksonville, Cherokee County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The Rev. John Madison Newburn (1868-1926), a native of Mississippi, came to Jacksonville from Neches, Texas, in the winter of 1896 to assume the pastorate of the First Baptist Church. He and his wife Lula purchased property on this site in 1901 from F. A. Fuller and R. B. Longmire. Built in 1903, this house is a late example of a Victorian residence with transitional classical revival elements, including a two-story balustraded porch and four ornamental gables. The Newburn family formed close ties with Jacksonville College and other family and friends in the community. When housing facilities were limited at the school, the Newburn home served as a dormitory. Two Jacksonville College presidents, the Rev. J. V. Vermillion and Deacon B. J. Albritton, were among those who penned a special memorial record of Newburn's work with the First Baptist Church after his death. The Rev. Mr. Newburn had served 22 years as pastor. In 1928, after a fire destroyed the small Newburn Hospital owned and operated by J. M. Newburn's brother, C. L. Newburn, M. D., Lula Newburn offered her home to serve as a temporary hospital until a new facility was erected five months later. The home was owned and occupied by Newburn heirs until it was purchased by Dallas and Thelma Rawlinson in 1945. In later years the home served as a day care facility for area children. The house was returned to the friends of its first owners in 1994 when it was sold to Jacksonville College. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1998
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The Rev. John Madison Newburn, who came to pastor Jacksonville's First Baptist Church in 1896, built this Victorian home with classical revival touches in 1903. Closely tied to Jacksonville College, the house served as a dormitory when campus housing ran short, and after a 1928 fire destroyed a small local hospital, Lula Newburn opened her home as a temporary hospital until a new one could be built. Owned by Newburn heirs, later a Rawlinson family home and a day care, it returned to Jacksonville College in 1994.
Why it matters
The house shows how a single family home could serve as parsonage, college dormitory, and emergency hospital—woven into the civic and religious life of a growing East Texas town.
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Related people
- · John Madison Newburn
- · Lula Newburn
- · Dallas Rawlinson
- · Thelma Rawlinson
Themes & tags
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