DUANE
Duane's take
The official marker for the Cates-Price House in Matagorda County tells it like this, and I'm just the one passin' it along. In 1906, John T. and Opal Cates Price rolled into Palacios. Didn't take long before Opal's parents, Reuben and Lula Cates, followed right behind them.
The two families purchased adjoining lots, and by 1910, an architect by the name of Winn Wood had designed companion homes — one for the Prices, one for the Cates. Side by side. Family close.
Now, the Prices eventually sold their house within the decade, and rather than head somewhere new, they simply moved next door. Next to the Cates house. Sometimes the best move you can make is a short one.
The house that stood there was something to look at. Craftsman bungalow was the dominant style of the early twentieth century, sure — but this one had its own ideas. A side-gabled roof.
A second story with dormers and a veranda. Unusual enough that people took notice. It was, the marker says plainly, a showplace.
And it hosted the kind of guests that a showplace attracts. Former Texas Governor Pat Neff dined there. He sat at that table weeks before John Price's accidental drowning death in July 1921.
Weeks. You sit with that timing a moment. The house kept standing.
During World War II it served as the unofficial Camp Hulen Officers' Club. Men in uniform, serious business, in what had once been someone's proud family home. Mrs.
Price and Mrs. Cates — the two women who had shared that stretch of Palacios real estate for so long — lived there together until 1946. Two families, one architect, companion homes, and decades of living that spanned a governor's dinner and a world war.
That's the Cates-Price House, and Palacios holds the deed to every bit of it.
What the marker says
John T. and Opal Cates Price arrived in Palacios in 1906 and were soon joined by Opal's parents, Reuben and Lula Cates. They purchased adjoining lots, and by 1910 architect Winn Wood had designed companion homes for the two couples. The Prices sold their house within the decade and moved next door next to the Cates house. Though the Craftsman bungalow was a dominant style of the early 20th century, this example is unusual in its side-gabled roof and second story with dormers and veranda. It was a showplace and hosted such guest as former Texas Gov. Pat Neff, who dined here weeks before John Price's accidental drowning death in July 1921. The home was the unofficial Camp Hulen Officers' Club during World War ll. Mrs. Price and Mrs Cates lived here until 1946. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1998