The Curtis Mansion
Belton, Bell County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Cotton broker William Ray Miller (1868-1954) and his wife Ida (Rogers) built this structure in 1902 and lived here with their large family about six years. Mrs. Miller was from Galveston, and had graduated from Baylor College (now Mary Hardin-Baylor). Born in Kentucky, Miller grew up in Belton, the son of a merchant. Noting the costliness of this house, some observers have called it "A Monument to King Cotton." A. Lon and Cora (Lee) Curtis acquired the property in 1914. It became known as the Curtis Mansion because they and their descendants occupied it for the next 59 years. Lon Curtis (1872-1934) graduated from the University of Texas, took a second degree at the University of Michigan, and began practicing law in Temple, moving to Belton when he became County Attorney. He and his wife had one son, Lee. As new owners, the Curtises brought a decorator from Kansas City to modify the house to their tastes. Noted for its hospitality as well as its architecture, it remained a show place of the city. In 1973, Lee Curtis sold the mansion. It now is a complex of luxury suites, preserved as a relic of the cotton empire that once dominated the Brazos Valley. (1977)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Cotton broker William Ray Miller and his wife Ida built this grand house in 1902, its costliness earning it the nickname "A Monument to King Cotton." In 1914 attorney A. Lon Curtis and his wife Cora acquired it—bringing in a Kansas City decorator—and the family's 59-year residence gave the mansion its lasting name. Long a showplace of Belton hospitality, it was sold in 1973 and became a complex of luxury suites.
Why it matters
The mansion stands as a relic of the cotton empire that once dominated the Brazos Valley, mapping the wealth and social prominence that the crop conferred on Central Texas.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · William Ray Miller
- · A. Lon Curtis
- · Cora Lee Curtis
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
The Curtis Mansion
Belton, TX
Flush with profits from strong turn-of-the-century cotton years, W. R. and Ida Miller built this elegant house in Belton in 1902, blending fashionable Queen Anne detailing with the Shingle style then popular back east. The design lavished attention on fine materials and craftsmanship, down to a fireplace in every room. Later owners, especially the A. Lon Curtis family who held it from 1914 to 1973, preserved and enhanced the home, earning it Recorded Texas Historic Landmark status in 1977.
Ele B. Baggett Home
Belton, TX
Ele Bright Baggett and his wife Mary Carolyn began this ornate Queen Anne house in 1892, its gable sunbursts and fish-scale shingles announcing the prosperity of a Bell County cattle family. Ele, his brother, and their father had come home from the Civil War to drive great herds north to the railheads of Kansas and Montana, and Ele parlayed the profits into land, cotton gins, and banking. His father Silas had been among Belton's founders, and the family home stood just across the street.
Fellrath Building
Belton, TX
Raised in the boom decade after Belton's founding-era growth, this native-brick building passed through a hardware and buggy shop and a grain company before John Fellrath opened his tin and plumbing trade here in 1914. Its round-arched doors and corbeled brick cornice are textbook Commercial Italianate, the confident storefront style of small-town Texas at the turn of the century. Fellrath kept the building until his death in 1961, giving it the name it still carries.
Cochran, Blair and Potts Department Store
Belton, TX
The store that became Cochran, Blair and Potts began in 1869 when Henry Mansfield Cook opened a business in Centerville, later partnering with son-in-law Thomas W. Cochran. After moves to Buffalo and, in 1883, to Belton, the firm settled at this site and passed through generations of the Cook, Cochran, Blair, and Potts families. Surviving a devastating 1928 fire, the business carried on under family ownership for well over a century.