Stafford-Paris House
Pittsburg, Camp County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This Victorian residence with ornate gingerbread woodwork was built in 1899 for the family of Eugene Fore. In 1913 it was sold to Camp County Sheriff J. D. Stafford, who lived here for 24 years. Dr. Ernest Paris, a prominent local chiropractor, and his wife Margret, bought the home in 1941. Other community leaders who resided here include Dr. R. Y. Lacy and Dr. R. C. Treynham, whose wife Cora was the stepdaughter of W. H. Pitts, for whom the town was named. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1981
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This ornate Victorian home, trimmed with gingerbread woodwork, was built in 1899 for Eugene Fore's family in the East Texas town of Pittsburg. Over the decades it passed through a succession of local notables, including Camp County Sheriff J. D. Stafford, who lived here for 24 years, and the chiropractor Dr. Ernest Paris. Its residents' ties reached back to W. H. Pitts, the man for whom the town itself was named.
Why it matters
Homes like this trace the emergence of a settled civic class in small-town Texas at the turn of the twentieth century, when doctors, sheriffs, and founding families anchored community life.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
At the turn of the twentieth century, small East Texas towns like Pittsburg were settling into prosperity. In the decades after the Civil War, farming, timber and trade brought new money and new people into the piney woods, and a town's leading families began to build houses that showed it.
The Victorian style was the fashion of the day. Factory-made trim, turned posts, brackets and spindlework became widely available in the late 1800s, so even a family in a small county seat could have a house full of ornament. Builders called the result gingerbread, and it became a sign that a household had arrived.
Built in 1899, this house belongs to that moment, just before automobiles, paved roads and new building styles began to change how small-town Texas looked and lived.
People & events
The house was first built for the family of Eugene Fore. Like many homes of its kind, though, it's best remembered through the later owners who gave it its name.
In 1913 it was bought by J. D. Stafford, the Camp County sheriff, who lived here for 24 years. For a whole generation this was the home of one of the most visible figures in county life. In a small community the sheriff was the local face of the law, known to nearly everyone.
In 1941 the house passed to Dr. Ernest Paris, a well-known local chiropractor, and his wife, Margret. Other community leaders lived here as well, including Dr. R. Y. Lacy and Dr. R. C. Treynham. Treynham's wife, Cora, was the stepdaughter of W. H. Pitts, for whom Pittsburg itself was named. That tie links the house back to the town's founding family.
Its place in the American story
Houses like this one tell the story of how small-town America built a settled civic class. Across the country in these decades, the doctors, lawmen and merchants who ran local life often lived in a handful of fine homes that changed hands among them. Such houses became landmarks of community memory as much as architecture.
The list of owners also traces changes in American life. A sheriff's long residence recalls an era when law enforcement was deeply personal and local. The arrival of a chiropractor in 1941 reflects a then-young profession that had spread across the country in the early 1900s and found a place in small towns.
The house's designation as a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1981 reflects a wider change too. By the late twentieth century, Americans had come to value everyday Victorian houses, not just grand mansions, as worth preserving.
If you visit
Look for the details that make a Victorian house sing: the ornate gingerbread woodwork, the trim along porches and gables, and the overall play of shape and texture that builders of the 1890s loved. It's a good lesson in reading a house from the street.
This is a historic residence, so enjoy it from the sidewalk and respect the privacy of anyone who may live there. The marker and the facade tell the story well without stepping onto the property.
Pittsburg rewards a slow wander. The Stafford-Paris House fits nicely into a walk or drive past the town's other historic sites, and it's a pleasant stop on any road trip through the lakes and piney woods of northeast Texas.
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. D. Stafford
- · Ernest Paris
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Pitts Family Cemetery
Pittsburg, TX
This burying ground was begun by William Harrison Pitts, the founder of Pittsburg, with the 1862 grave of his wife Sarah. The Pitts family had left their Georgia plantations to reestablish themselves on the Texas frontier in the mid-nineteenth century, and the plot soon held a Confederate corporal, Pitts's mother, and several of his siblings. Their arrival helped shape the young community of Camp County.
William Harrison Pitts
Pittsburg, TX
Georgia-born William Harrison Pitts moved his plantation household to this corner of East Texas by 1854, bought land, and built a home around which a settlement gathered — earning the new post office the name "Pittsburg." A shrewd civic promoter, he set aside acreage for the town and in 1874 offered $50 toward a courthouse, tipping the election that made Pittsburg the seat of newly organized Camp County. By 1880 the railroad junction town numbered 750 people.
Shootout at the Pittsburg Depot
Pittsburg, TX
On February 10, 1885, a tangled domestic dispute among George "Dallas" Smart, his wife Annie, and U.S. Army Lt. John W. Heard boiled over into a public confrontation at the Pittsburg railroad depot. As Heard prepared to leave town, a struggle egged on by the gathered crowd ended with Heard shooting and killing Smart. A county judge ruled it self-defense the next day, and after later clearing himself in a court-martial and another trial, Heard went on to a distinguished military career. Annie remarried and died in New Mexico Territory in 1900.
Pittsburg
Pittsburg, TX
Anglo settlement of this corner of East Texas began in the 1850s, and the family of W. H. Pitts arrived from Georgia in 1854, soon joined by other newcomers from the southern states. Pitts donated land for a townsite that took his name, and when Camp County was organized from Upshur County in 1874, Pittsburg became its seat of government. Two railroad lines reached the area by 1880, the town incorporated in 1891, and it has remained the commercial and cultural hub of the county ever since.