Atkinson-Morris House

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Atkinson-Morris House in Lamar County. Now settle in, because this one's about a house that outlasted something most of Paris, Texas could not. Built about 1890 by a man named Jethro D.

Atkinson, and Jethro was not a man who put all his eggs in one basket. Bank director, yes. But also the owner of Paris' first shoe store.

The man had range. And whatever he earned from lending money and selling boots, some of it went into this house. A fine Victorian-style home, the kind that was fashionable and proud and said something about who you were in a town.

In 1910, the house changed hands. Dr. Eugene Felder Morris and his wife Elizabeth bought it, and the marker tells us they were social leaders, which in a Texas town of that era meant something.

They were the kind of people a community gathered around. Now here is where the story earns its weight. In 1916, a great fire came through Paris.

Not a small fire. Not a contained fire. A great one.

And much of what had stood in that town, the Victorian homes, the fine old buildings, the architectural character of the place, it did not survive. But this house did. The Atkinson-Morris House stood.

So when you look at it today, you are not just looking at a house. You are looking at evidence. Evidence of what Paris looked like before the fire came and changed everything.

Jethro Atkinson built it to last, and as it turned out, that mattered more than anyone could have planned.

What the marker says

Built about 1890 by Jethro D. Atkinson, bank director and owner of Paris' first shoe store. Bought 1910 by social leaders, Dr. Eugene Felder Morris and wife Elizabeth. A fine example of Victorian style prevailing here before the great 1916 Paris fire. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1972