DUANE
Get the App
Duane's take
The official marker's the source here, and I'm just the one bringing it to you down the road. Now let me tell you about the Adams-White Place in Robertson County. This house goes back to 1896, when a man named Horatio Adams built it.
They called him Rashe, and the marker calls him a noted citizen and public relations man in Washington, D.C. The contractor who actually put the thing together was A. A.
White. So right from the start, you've got two names attached to this place, and that's only the beginning. By 1911, the house had a new owner and a new name.
It became known as the Dr. John W. Black Place, for its owner.
Then it was sold again, this time to a Mrs. Willie L. Moreland.
And then in 1924, a Miss Lil White purchased the house, and she was, at the time of the marker, the present owner. Four names, four chapters, one Victorian-style house sitting in Robertson County. Now, Victorian style means it had character.
It had detail. And it had something you don't see much anymore, a separate kitchen. Not attached to the main house, just standing out back on its own, the way kitchens sometimes were in those days.
That separate kitchen has since been converted into the garage, but here's the part that sticks with you. That kitchen was once supplied with water from a backyard artesian well. Water coming up out of the ground, right there behind the house, feeding the kitchen.
Some things a house just carries with it across the years, and this one's been carrying its story since 1896.
What the marker says
Built 1896 by Horatio ("Rashe") Adams, noted citizen and public relations man in Washington, D. C. The contractor was A. A. White. After 1911, the house was called the "Dr. John W. Black Place," for its owner. It was later sold to Mrs. Willie L. Moreland. In 1924, the house was purchased by Miss Lil White, present owner. Victorian in style, structure had a separate Kitchen (now the garage) once supplied with water from a backyard artesian well. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1968