W. E. Henderson Home
Terrell, Kaufman County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Built 1898 by William Ebenezer Henderson (1847-1944), who moved from Louisiana to Texas (1862) in an ox-drawn barouche. Going to work at 19 for a cattleman, he became in time a prosperous commission dealer-- shipping cattle to St. Louis, where he bought the fine mantels and tile for this house. Structure is of select heart pine from the big timber of the Beaumont area. Rooms are large and lofty, with 12-foot ceilings. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1970
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
William Ebenezer Henderson came to Texas from Louisiana as a teenager in 1862, went to work for a cattleman at nineteen, and rose to become a prosperous commission dealer shipping cattle to the great St. Louis market. In 1898 he poured that success into this home of select heart pine from the Beaumont big timber, finished with fine mantels and tile hauled back from St. Louis and crowned with lofty twelve-foot ceilings. It stands as a monument to the cattle-trade fortunes that built up East Texas towns in the decades after the Civil War.
Why it matters
The house embodies how the post-Civil-War cattle economy — moving Texas beef to distant railroad markets — created a new class of self-made men and left its mark on the region's finest homes.
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Related people
- · William Ebenezer Henderson
Themes & tags
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