DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and here's how I'm gonna tell it to you. Somewhere back in the 1870s, on a stretch of ground in McLennan County, a house started rising up out of the Texas earth — and the story of how it got built is worth every mile of road between you and it. The place is called East Terrace, and the man who built it was John W.
Mann, born in 1838, died in 1909 — a local business and civic leader who left his mark on Waco in ways that are still standing today. His wife, Cemira Twaddle Mann, born in 1847 and living all the way to 1934, had plenty to say about how that house was going to look. We'll get to her in a moment.
First, let's talk about brick. John Mann manufactured much of the brick used to build the famous Waco suspension bridge. That's not a small thing.
That bridge was one of the engineering wonders of its day in Texas, and Mann's kilns were feeding it. But when it came time to build his own house, Mann did something a little different. He pulled sand right out of the Brazos River, and that sand colored the brick he made for East Terrace.
So the walls of this house carry the river in them — the color of the Brazos baked right into the clay. Now, Cemira Mann was a native of New York, and when it came time to choose a style for the house, she probably went with Italian villa styling. The marker is honest enough to say probably — but look at that house and you'll understand why the attribution sticks.
It's got a particular kind of elegance that didn't arrive on a cattle drive. Texas, though, being Texas, added its own flourish — galleries, in the Texas fashion, wrapped around to catch whatever breeze the Lord was willing to send. And to finish it off right, the Manns bought millwork all the way down in Galveston, and that millwork gave the house the distinction it still carries.
One man's brick, one river's sand, one woman's eye for beauty, and one state's stubborn insistence on doin' things its own way. East Terrace is still standin'.
What the marker says
Built in1870s by John W. (1838-1909) and Cemira Twaddle Mann (1847-1934). Mann, a local business and civic leader, manufactured much of the brick used to build the famous Waco suspension bridge. Brazos River sand colored the brick he made for his own house. The Italian villa styling was probably chosen by Mrs. Mann, a native of New York. Galleries were added in Texas fashion. Millwork bought in Galveston gave distinction to the house.