Dempsey Benton Cain House

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Dempsey Benton Cain House in DeWitt County. Now, some stories start with a house. This one starts with a man, a long way from home.

Dempsey Benton Cain, who folks called D.B., was born in Mississippi in 1869. Around 1880, he came to Texas. And by 1894, he'd found his way to Yoakum.

That's where things started to take shape. D.B. married a Yoakum woman, Emily Bostick, known as Emma, born in 1875. Together they had five sons.

Emma passed in 1918, and in time, D.B. married again, this time to a Yoakum schoolteacher named Watsie Lea Nowlin, born in 1888. But let's back up to 1913, because that's when something went up on Grand Avenue that people noticed. D.B.

Cain's new residence, an eight-thousand-dollar home, was completed. Eight thousand dollars. The place was likely designed by a local architect named J.

Henry Yentzen, and it did not disappoint. Classical Revival style, a hipped roof with dormers, a two-story porch held up by square columns, and Craftsman-influenced green slag glass windows. That last detail alone, the green slag glass, is the kind of thing you don't forget once you've seen it.

And it sat within walking distance of D.B.'s downtown store. D.B. Cain and Company was one of the largest mercantile businesses in the city.

So there he was, close enough to walk between his livelihood and his living room. The Cain family lived in that house until 1976. Multiple generations, one address on Grand Avenue.

Now here is where the story lands its final note. D.B. Cain was a devout Baptist his whole life.

And in 1963, the state of Texas named him Texas Baptist Father of the Year. He was ninety-four years old. The man born in 1869 was still standing, still being recognized, in 1963.

He would live all the way to 1967. Some houses outlast their builders. This one just barely did.

What the marker says

Mississippi-born Dempsey Benton "D.B." Cain (1869-1967) came to Texas circa 1880 and arrived in Yoakum in 1894. He married Emily "Emma" Bostick (1875-1918) of Yoakum, and they had five sons. After Emma's death, D.B. married Yoakum schoolteacher Watsie Lea Nowlin (1888-1972). In 1913, D.B. Cain's $8,000 residence on Grand Avenue, likely designed by local architect J. Henry Yentzen, was completed within walking distance of his downtown store. D.B. Cain & Co. was one of the city's largest mercantile businesses. The Classical Revival house features a hipped roof with dormers, a two-story porch supported by square columns, and Craftsman-influenced green slag glass windows. The Cain family lived in this house until 1976. A devout Baptist, D.B. Cain was named Texas Baptist Father of the Year in 1963 at the age of 94. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2019