DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the Texas Historical Commission put on the marker for the Christal House in Denton County. Now settle in, because this one's got pioneer blood, a mysterious death, a cattle empire, and a house so fine it'll make your eyes water just hearing about it. Born in 1859 to pioneer stock, James Russell Christal — Jim, to everyone who knew him — came into this world already carrying a shadow.
By the time he was three years old, his father was gone, dead under circumstances the marker calls mysterious, lost on a hunting trip in the way that hunting trips sometimes swallow men whole out on the frontier. His mother raised him after that, which tells you something right there about the kind of grit this story is built on. Now, Jim didn't waste time feeling sorry for himself.
At age twelve — twelve years old, mind you — he started working as a horse wrangler. Twelve. Some kids that age are still trying to figure out their chores.
Jim was already reading horses. And that early start caught the eye of the right people, because before long he was hired on as a cowboy at his cousin Burk Burnett's 6666 Ranch, out near Wichita Falls. The 6666.
If you know Texas ranching, you just sat up a little straighter. But here's where fate does what fate does. Injuries forced Jim Christal off that ranch and back to Denton.
Most men might've called that the end of something. Jim called it the beginning. He started the Golden Hoof Farm, a showplace — and the marker uses that word deliberately — a showplace for award-winning sheep and cattle right there in Denton County.
Turns out being forced to slow down just gave him room to build an empire of a different kind. He served as president of the Alliance Milling Company from 1900 to 1909. He moved to vice president of the Exchange National Bank in 1909, and by 1912 he was president, a position he held all the way through 1926.
Between 1901 and 1911, he sat on the Board of Regents at North Texas State Normal College — what we now call the University of North Texas. And in whatever hours were left, Jim Christal was reading. Constantly reading.
Prolific, the marker says. So prolific, in fact, that he was known to correspond with Henry Ford and Thomas Edison. Just a boy from the Texas frontier, writing letters back and forth with two of the most famous minds of the industrial age.
He married Margaret McKenzie, raised two children, and he died in 1936 — but not before leaving behind something Denton still calls a landmark. In 1906, Jim and Margaret commissioned a man named Frank Craft to build them a house on West Oak. Frank Craft, who'd already built other houses on that same street, delivered something extraordinary.
High Victorian Italian Villa style, with a wide veranda wrapping three full sides of the house. That veranda roof is held up by Corinthian columns, and the entrance is Palladian, flanked by three leaded beveled glass side windows. Step inside and the craftsman woodwork takes over — tiger eye oak, birds eye maple floors, long leaf pine in the common areas.
Six fireplaces. Two full floors. The Christals added their own touches over the years: a bay window in the front bedroom, the west rear porch enclosed and folded into the house itself.
And out back, a carriage house where they kept the horse and buggy they'd hitch up every weekend to ride out to the Golden Hoof Farm. A man who started wrangling horses at twelve years old, still riding out to check on his animals every weekend, right up until the world he helped build was firmly standing. That's the Christal House.
That's Jim.
What the marker says
Born to pioneers in 1859, James "Jim" Russell Christal was raised by his mother after age three when his father mysteriously died on a hunting trip. At age 12, Jim started as a horse wrangler and eventually was hired as a cowboy on his cousin Burk Burnett's 6666 Ranch near Wichita Falls. Injuries forced him to return to Denton, where he started the Golden Hoof Farm, a showplace for award-winning sheep and cattle. He served as president of the Alliance Milling Company from 1900 to 1909. He also served as vice president of the Exchange National Bank from 1909 to 1912, and president from 1912 to 1926. Between 1901 and 1911, he was a member of the Board of Regents at North Texas State Normal College, now known as the University of North Texas. A prolific reader, Christal was known to correspond with Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and others. Jim married Margaret McKenzie and had two children. He died in 1936, but left a legacy in Denton as a charitable man. This house was built in 1906 for the Christals by Frank Craft, who had built other houses on West Oak. The house is High Victorian Italian Villa style, with a wide veranda on three sides. The veranda roof is supported by Corinthian columns. The entrance is Palladian, with three leaded beveled glass side windows. The interior is Craftsman style, made with tiger eye oak, birds eye maple floors and long leaf pine in common areas. The house has six fireplaces and two floors. The Christals made some modifications to the original structure, including the addition of a bay window in the front bedroom and enclosing the west rear porch to become part ot the house. A carriage house behind the main house stored the horse and buggy used to return to the Golden Hoof Farm each weekend. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2015