The Thompson House
Hereford, Deaf Smith County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Land developer S. S. Evants built this home in 1906. The following year Alex Thompson (1883-1956) bought the house and then sold it to his mother Jennie Thompson in 1908. Thompson, his wife Audrey (Argo), and their two daughters lived here with his mother and her sister Jessie Morris. "Aunt Jennie" and "Aunt Jessie" nursed patients and helped deliver babies in this home until a hospital was erected in 1924. District judges, court reporters, students, Baptist preachers and singers boarded here. The Thompson family were leaders in church and community affairs. (1979)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Built in 1906 on the developing plains of the Texas Panhandle, this Hereford home passed in 1908 to the Thompson family, where "Aunt Jennie" and "Aunt Jessie" nursed the sick and helped deliver babies until a hospital opened in 1924. The house doubled as a boarding place for judges, court reporters, students, and traveling preachers and singers. Its rooms held together much of the young town's social, medical, and religious life.
Why it matters
Before hospitals reached the rural West, homes like this served as informal clinics and community hubs—often sustained by the caregiving labor of women.
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Related people
- · Alex Thompson
- · Jennie Thompson
- · Jessie Morris
Themes & tags
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