Weeks Mansion
Wichita Falls, Wichita County, Texas
Marker Inscription
A lawyer who made a fortune during the oil boom in this area, Fred Weeks (1888-1977) erected this elegant home in 1924-26. Designed by Kansas City architect J. F. Louck, the mansion stood in the middle of a 13-acre landscaped tract. Local brick mason Walter McAbee laid the specially made Kansas bricks. The Weeks family often hosted musical recitals here. Two later owners, George F. LeBus (1876-1956) and Charles H. Featherston (1886-1969), were also oilmen.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
When oil transformed Wichita Falls in the early twentieth century, lawyer Fred Weeks rode the boom to fortune and, in 1924–26, built this elegant mansion at the center of a 13-acre landscaped estate. A Kansas City architect designed it, and a local mason laid its specially made Kansas brick. The Weeks family filled its rooms with musical recitals, and two later owners, LeBus and Featherston, were oilmen as well.
Why it matters
The mansion embodies the sudden wealth of the North Texas oil boom, when petroleum fortunes reshaped the skylines and society of once-modest prairie towns.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Fred Weeks
- · George F. LeBus
- · Charles H. Featherston
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Wichita Falls Traction Company
Wichita Falls, TX
When Frank Kell and J. A. Kemp founded the Wichita Falls Traction Company in 1909, they were as much land developers as transit operators. After buying up undeveloped land toward Lake Wichita, they built an electric streetcar line to it — instantly turning the remote outskirts into a convenient place to live and driving up the value of their own property. The city grew rapidly along the route until buses replaced the streetcars in 1933.
Joe and Lois Perkins Estate
Wichita Falls, TX
This Tudor Revival estate, designed by the Dallas firm Fooshee and Cheek with steep roofs, arcaded loggias, and steel casement windows, was home to Joe and Lois Perkins, whose 1941 foundation began a long tradition of local and statewide giving. Set among landscaping by Hare and Hare, the house survives as a symbol of the Perkins and Prothro families' enduring philanthropy, carried on today by the Perkins Prothro Foundation.
Wichita General Hospital
Wichita Falls, TX
Wichita Falls' citizens had called for a county hospital since the 1880s, but construction of the 40-bed Wichita General finally began in 1915, its three-story red-brick design by local architects Field & Clarkson. A school of nursing opened that December, and within three years the flu epidemic and oil-boom population forced a fourth story; decades of additions followed before the hospital merged into United Regional in 1997 and the original building was razed in 2013.
Kell, Frank
Wichita Falls, TX
Frank Kell came to Wichita Falls in 1896, following his brother-in-law Joseph Kemp, and together the two men steered the region through decades of explosive growth. Beginning with the Wichita Mill and Elevator Company, Kell chartered railroads to reach north Texas wheat, coal, and oil, built downtown warehouses and banks, and sold his milling empire to General Mills in 1928 while serving thirteen years as a Dallas Federal Reserve director.