Dorris-Brock House

Duane's take

The way the marker tells it, here's the story of the Dorris-Brock House, straight from the official record. Now, picture January of 1871. Three months on the road from Starkville, Mississippi.

Three months of cold and mud and uncertainty, with a second wife, Miranda Ferguson Dorris, and a whole passel of children in tow. That is how Dr. William E.

Dorris arrived in Grapevine, Texas. Not exactly a soft landing, but the man had survived worse. He'd served as a captain in J.

B. Dunn's Company, the Mississippi Rangers, during the Civil War. And his first wife, Elizabeth Harmon Dorris, had died during that war.

Whatever brought William Dorris to North Texas, he came carrying some weight along with those bags. But he came with purpose, too. He bought himself a thirty-seven-acre farm from a man named A.

B. Coble, situated just north of Archibald F. Leonard's store, which had been established back in 1849.

The land was smart pickin'. It sat near Morehead Branch and Coble Branch both, where good water was abundant. Any farmer worth his boots knew that water made or broke you.

Dr. Dorris planted himself in the community as firmly as he planted that farm. He joined the local Masonic Lodge.

He joined the Baptist Church. He served two years as a Grapevine School Board trustee. And his son, Thomas Benton Dorris, carried the family's medical tradition forward right there in Grapevine for more than thirty years.

Thomas served as a local surgeon for the railroad, and when World War I came along, he was teachin' a Red Cross nursing class. The Dorris name was woven into that town. Then in 1889, Dr.

William E. Dorris moved on to Roanoke, over in Denton County. The farmstead passed through the hands of several prominent Grapevine families, each one adding to its story, until 1905, when John Word Brock and Bessie Bushong Brock bought the property.

Now John Word Brock was a farmer, same as those before him, but he also spent ten years ridin' the mail route by horse and buggy. Rain or shine, dust or mud, that man delivered. And he and Bessie?

They raised twelve children in that house. Twelve. The walls practically had to lean outward to hold all of it.

In fact, the original house was only one room deep when the Brocks moved in. By the nineteen-twenties they had added a rear addition, because with twelve children, you do what you have to do. The house itself is an L-plan farmhouse with a cross gable roof and a shed roof porch.

The Folk Victorian styling is something to behold even now, all narrow clapboard siding, two-over-two wood windows, turned spindle porch supports, and doorways and window surrounds dressed up with fluted moldings and medallions. Inside, beadboard walls and tall baseboards give the rooms that particular kind of dignity that doesn't ask for attention, it just has it. The Brocks kept that house in the family for eighty-five years.

Eighty-five years of children growing up, seasons turning, horse-and-buggy mail routes giving way to whatever came next. From a captain who crossed Mississippi into Texas to a mail carrier making his rounds by horse, this house held generations of people who just kept showing up and doing the work. And the house, for its part, kept holding them.

What the marker says

DR. WILLIAM E. DORRIS (1832-1905) BROUGHT HIS FAMILY TO GRAPEVINE IN JANUARY 1871 AFTER A THREE-MONTH TRIP FROM STARKVILLE, MISSISSIPPI. DORRIS WAS A CAPTAIN IN J. B. DUNN'S COMPANY (MISSISSIPPI RANGERS) IN THE CIVIL WAR AND HIS FIRST WIFE, ELIZABETH (HARMON), DIED DURING THE WAR. ARRIVING HERE WITH HIS SECOND WIFE, MIRANDA (FERGUSON) AND CHILDREN, DORRIS PURCHASED A 37-ACRE FARM FROM A. B. COBLE, JUST NORTH OF ARCHIBALD F. LEONARD'S STORE ESTABLISHED IN 1849. THE FARM WAS IDEALLY LOCATED NEAR MOREHEAD BRANCH AND COBLE BRANCH, WHERE GOOD WATER WAS ABUNDANT. DR. DORRIS WAS A MEMBER OF THE LOCAL MASONIC LODGE AND THE BAPTIST CHURCH, AND SERVED TWO YEARS AS A GRAPEVINE SCHOOL BOARD TRUSTEE. HIS SON THOMAS BENTON DORRIS CONTINUED THE FAMILY MEDICAL TRADITION IN GRAPEVINE FOR MORE THAN THIRTY YEARS, ALSO SERVING AS A LOCAL SURGEON FOR THE RAILROAD AND TEACHING A RED CROSS NURSING CLASS DURING WORLD WAR I. DR. WILLIAM E. DORRIS MOVED TO ROANOKE (DENTON CO.) IN 1889, AND SEVERAL PROMINENT GRAPEVINE FAMILIES OWNED THIS FARMSTEAD UNTIL JOHN WORD AND BESSIE (BUSHONG) BROCK BOUGHT THE PROPERTY IN 1905. JOHN WORD BROCK WAS A FARMER AND ALSO A MAIL CARRIER FOR TEN YEARS BY HORSE AND BUGGY. THE BROCKS RAISED TWELVE CHILDREN IN THIS HOUSE, WHICH STAYED IN THE FAMILY FOR 85 YEARS. THE L-PLAN FARMHOUSE FEATURES A CROSS GABLE ROOF AND SHED ROOF PORCH. ITS FOLK VICTORIAN STYLING INCLUDES NARROW CLAPBOARD SIDING, TWO-OVER-TWO WOOD WINDOWS, TURNED SPINDLE PORCH SUPPORTS, DOORWAYS AND WINDOW SURROUNDS WITH FLUTED MOLDINGS AND MEDALLIONS, BEADBOARD WALLS AND TALL BASEBOARDS. THE ORIGINAL HOUSE WAS ONE ROOM DEEP; THE BROCKS EXPANDED THE HOUSE WITH A REAR ADDITION IN THE 1920s.