The H.P. Barkley Home
Ennis, Ellis County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Local contractor B. F. Sargeant constructed this residence in 1892 for H.P. Barkley, a conductor and yardmaster for the Houston and Central Texas Railroad. Built in the Victorian style, it features elaborate gingerbread detailing. T.H. Floyd, a local businessman, purchased the house in 1905 and resided here until 1949. Later used as a church parsonage, the Barkley home now serves as a reminder of Ennis' early days as a growing railroad town.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Local contractor B. F. Sargeant built this Victorian residence in 1892 for H. P. Barkley, a conductor and yardmaster for the Houston and Central Texas Railroad, complete with elaborate gingerbread detailing. Businessman T. H. Floyd bought the house in 1905 and lived here until 1949, after which it served as a church parsonage.
Why it matters
The Barkley home is a reminder of Ennis's beginnings as a railroad town, where rail workers and their families built the ornate houses that gave the young community its character.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · H. P. Barkley
- · B. F. Sargeant
- · T. H. Floyd
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Railroads in Ennis
Ennis, TX
The Houston & Texas Central pushed its tracks past here in 1871, and in 1872 the town of Ennis was platted along the line and named for railroad official Cornelius Ennis. Local boosters won a division point with roundhouse, machine shops, and headquarters—on the promise that Ennis could always supply their water—while magnate Hetty Green's Texas Midland and a Dallas-to-Corsicana interurban later threaded the town. The interurban ran until 1941 and the last Texas Midland lines closed by 1975, leaving Union Pacific on the original route.
The Southern Pacific Railroad in Ennis
Ennis, TX
Ennis was founded in 1887 as the northern terminus of the Houston and Texas Central Railroad, later part of the Southern Pacific system, and named for railroad official Cornelius Ennis. A major expansion in 1891 brought shops, a roundhouse, offices, and reservoir lakes, fueling decades of growth. The town earned a reputation as the junction where railroads met cotton fields, and several of those railroad buildings and lakes survive.
Town of Ennis
Ennis, TX
Ennis sprang up in 1872 as a market stop on the Houston & Texas Central Railway, named for a railroad official, and quickly gathered churches, schools, and a mixed population of Anglo, French, Mexican, and — after 1874 — Czech settlers working its cattle and cotton economy. A coup in 1892, when local backers won the railroad's division shops, secured the town's industrial future.
Old Lake Dam
Ennis, TX
Built in 1891, this dam impounded the water that clinched Ennis's future, created to supply the Houston and Texas Central Railroad's station and machine shops after the line chose to move its divisional headquarters there from Corsicana. The reservoir it formed went by several names as it powered the town's growth and later served for recreation and flood control. A humble earthwork, it marks the deal that turned Ennis into a railroad town.