Duncan and Emma McKellar House

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll let the words do the work. Now, every now and then you roll through a town and something stops you, not a billboard, not a gas station, a house. A house that was somebody's statement, somebody's declaration that they had arrived and they intended to stay.

That's what Duncan Graham McKellar and his wife Emma McCullough McKellar built out here in Forney, Kaufman County, back in 1886. Eighteen eighty-six. Think about what that means on the Texas timeline.

The land was still findin' itself, towns were still findin' themselves, and right in the middle of all that becoming, Duncan and Emma chose their moment. They put up a two-story frame house, not a modest little structure to get them through the seasons, but a high-style residence. Queen Anne style.

Eastlake style. Decorative elements that said, loud and clear, this is a home built with intention. And it was one of the first of its kind in Forney.

The first high-style residence of that caliber to rise up in that town. You don't just build something like that and fade into the background. The McKellars were, by the marker's own account, integral, that's the word, integral, to the economic, social, and religious development of Forney and Kaufman County across those years between 1886 and 1903.

Now here's the part that really settles into you. That house, that exact house, all that Queen Anne craftsmanship, all those Eastlake flourishes, it's still standing. It is, to this day, the oldest surviving example of that style in Forney.

Everything else that tried to keep pace with it has come and gone. This one endured. And it didn't endure as some museum piece passed off to strangers.

Members of the McKellar family owned and occupied that home until 2010. One hundred and twenty-four years. From the year it was built until just recently in the grand sweep of things, it stayed in the family.

Some folks build for a season. Duncan and Emma McKellar built for a century.

What the marker says

Duncan Graham McKellar and his wife Emma (McCullough) McKellar built this house in 1886. The McKellars were integral to the economic, social, and religious development of Forney and Kaufman County in the years between 1886 and 1903. The home's decorative elements are representative of the Queen Anne and Eastlake styles. This two-story frame house was one of the first high-style residences built in Forney and is the oldest surviving example of the style today. Members of the McKellar family owned and occupied the home until 2010. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2011