Blair House

Duane's take

The official marker for Blair House in Coleman County tells it like this, and I'm just here to pass it along. Now, everybody comes from somewhere. J.

T. Blair came from Georgia. Born in 1876, he made his way out to this part of Texas in 1897, and Coleman County must have agreed with him, because he stayed.

He married Carrie Agnes Love, who came from pioneer stock right here in Coleman County. Together they built a family, five children in all. Blair was not a man who did one thing at a time.

He served as foreman of the Overall Ranch, and on top of that, he was managing ranch property of his own. That is a full plate by any measure. But here is where the story takes a turn that anyone with children will understand completely.

In 1914, J. T. Blair made a decision.

He built a residence right there in town, in Coleman, so his children could attend the Coleman schools. Not every ranching man would do that. Some would have left well enough alone, kept the family out on the land.

Blair built them a home. And not just any home. He brought in architect J.

P. Caldwell to design it, and what Caldwell gave him was a Classical Revival house. Clean lines, considered proportions, the kind of home that says something about the people inside it.

The Blair family held onto that house for sixty years. J. T.

Blair himself lived until 1949. The house outlasted him, standing in Coleman as a reminder that a man from Georgia put down roots here in 1897, married into a pioneer family, worked two ranches, and then, when the time came, built something meant to last. Sixty years in the same family's hands.

That is not an accident. That is intention.

What the marker says

A native of Georgia, J. T. Blair (1876-1949) migrated to this area in 1897. He married Carrie Agnes Love, of a pioneer Coleman County family. They had five children. Blair served as foreman of the Overall Ranch, in addition to managing his own ranch property. In 1914 he built this residence in town so his children could attend Coleman schools. Designed by architect J. P. Caldwell, the Classical Revival home was owned for 60 years by the Blair family. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1978