DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it — so let me give it to you straight, with a little color on the side. Frank and Florence Haven Davison broke ground on their home in 1895, and by 1897 they had themselves a sturdy Victorian structure standing in Texas City — cypress wood, built to last. And if you know anything about what the Gulf Coast throws at a house, you understand why that choice of material matters.
Cypress doesn't flinch easy. Now, that town had a former name — Shoal Point — and inside those walls was born the very first child ever born in Texas City. Think about that.
The whole history of a place, and this house was there at the beginning of it, cradling the first new life the town ever saw. Frank Davison wasn't just building a home, either. The man was woven into the fabric of that community something fierce.
First city commissioner. First postmaster. School trustee.
Bank director. He opened the first store in Texas City, and — here's one that'll make you smile — he had the first telephone. In a town still finding its legs, Frank Davison had a wire running to the future.
That house stood through storm after storm, the Gulf doing its level worst, and the old cypress held. But 1947 — that's the year that hurt most. The marker doesn't mince words: the 1947 disaster dealt the Davison Home its hardest blow.
And still it stood. Some buildings just refuse to quit. A Victorian survivor on the Texas coast, carrying the memory of firsts — first child, first store, first telephone — and still standing to tell the tale.
What the marker says
Built by Frank and Florence Haven Davison, 1895-1897. Sturdy Victorian structure, of cypress. Home of first child born in Texas City (formerly named Shoal Point). Survivor of many storms; suffered most in 1947 disaster. Davison, prominent civic leader and pioneer in Texas City, was first in many capacities: city commissioner, postmaster, school trustee, bank director. Opened the first store in Texas City, and had the first telephone. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1967