The Comparette Home
Kerrville, Kerr County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This Victorian house was built in the Tivy Addition by S. W. and Laura Smith in 1890. After several other ownerships, Dr. R. H. P. Wright, a prominent Kerrville physician, occupied the property from 1896 to 1905. One of his daughters, Fay, married Texas Governor Coke Stevenson. D. H. Comparette (1871-1952), civic leader, organizer and manager of Kerrville Telephone Company, lived here with his wife Beatrice, a school teacher. The Comparette family owned the home 1905-1977. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1979
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Built in 1890 in Kerrville's Tivy Addition, this Victorian house passed through several hands during the Texas Hill Country's Gilded Age growth, including the prominent physician Dr. R. H. P. Wright. It is best known for D. H. Comparette, a civic leader who organized and managed the Kerrville Telephone Company, whose family held the home for more than seventy years. One of Dr. Wright's daughters married future Texas Governor Coke Stevenson, tying the house to the state's political history.
Why it matters
The home embodies how small Texas towns modernized in the early twentieth century, with local boosters bringing utilities like the telephone to the frontier.
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Related people
- · D. H. Comparette
- · Dr. R. H. P. Wright
- · Coke Stevenson
Themes & tags
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