The Kay House
Winona, Smith County, Texas
Marker Inscription
South Carolina planter Francis Lemuel Kay (1814-1867) settled in Smith County in 1856. Between 1856 and 1860, Kay bought 640 acres of land and built this two-story home for his wife Mary Ellen (Black) (1826-1896) and their eleven children. By 1860 Kay owned and operated 1300 acres of farm and ranchland. The Kay family sold the property to the Combination Orchard Company in 1909, and the house became the headquarters for the company's pecan orchards. In 1937 the Hunt Oil Company bought the house and land and has continued to operate the pecan business.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
South Carolina planter Francis Lemuel Kay settled in Smith County in 1856, assembling 640 acres and raising a two-story home for his wife Mary Ellen and their eleven children. By 1860 he worked some 1,300 acres of farm and ranchland. Later owners turned the property to pecan orchards, and after 1937 the Hunt Oil Company kept the pecan business going from the old Kay house.
Why it matters
The Kay House traces one antebellum planter family's homestead through the shifting agricultural and oil economies that reshaped East Texas.
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Related people
- · Francis Lemuel Kay
- · Mary Ellen Black Kay
Themes & tags
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