Thomas William House, Jr.
Houston, Harris County, Texas
Marker Inscription
(1846-1923) T. W. House, Jr., was the third of eight children born to Thomas William (1814-1880) and Mary Elizabeth (Shearn) (1822-1870) House. T.W. House, Sr., was an English immigrant who established the T.W. House Bank in 1838 and became mayor of Houston in 1862. The younger House received his education at the Houston Academy. At age 23 he married Ruth Nicholson (1847-1914); they had six children together, building a home at 1010 Louisiana in downtown Houston. House served on the Houston City Council from 1880 to 1886. Following his father's death, he became the director and then sole proprietor of the T. W. House Bank. In addition to managing the family business holdings, he was involved in the operation of three Houston utility companies. The T. W. House Bank collapsed during a national bank crisis in 1907. House filed for bankruptcy and the bank property was sold to the First National Bank of Houston. In 1913, President Woodrow Wilson appointed T. W. House, Jr., to the office of Houston postmaster. He served in that position, with his offices located on this site, until 1922. He died in 1923 and was buried in Glenwood Cemetery. The T. W. House Postal Station in Houston Heights was named in his honor. (1998)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
T. W. House, Jr. (1846–1923) was the son of an English immigrant who founded the T.W. House Bank in 1838 and served as Houston's mayor. The younger House sat on the city council, ran three utility companies, and became sole proprietor of the family bank—until it collapsed in the national banking panic of 1907, forcing him into bankruptcy. President Woodrow Wilson named him Houston postmaster in 1913, an office he held here until 1922.
Why it matters
House's career mirrors the fortunes of a Gilded Age Southern merchant family—commerce, civic office, and utilities—and the vulnerability of even established banks to the financial panics that reshaped American finance.
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Related people
- · Thomas William House, Jr.
- · Thomas William House, Sr.
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