The Howard House
Moody, McLennan County, Texas
Marker Inscription
A resident of Moody when the town was founded in 1881, Charles Howard (1862-1915) operated a general store and became a prosperous businessman. He built this elegant residence for his family in 1900. A St. Louis architectural firm drew the house plans and local contractor Elmo Routh supervised the construction. The Queen Anne detailing includes a turret and decorative fish scale shingling. The Howard family owned the property until 1973. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1978
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
As the young railroad town of Moody took shape on the Central Texas prairie in the 1880s, Charles Howard built a general store into a thriving business. In 1900 he crowned his success with this Queen Anne residence, drawn by a St. Louis firm and raised by local builder Elmo Routh, its turret and fish-scale shingles announcing a merchant's prosperity. The Howard family held the home for more than seventy years.
Why it matters
The house embodies the confident, catalog-and-railroad prosperity that transformed countless small American towns at the turn of the twentieth century, when a local storekeeper could build like a Victorian gentleman.
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Related people
- · Charles Howard
- · Elmo Routh
Themes & tags
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