Erasmus M. Hanna House

Duane's take

The way the marker tells it, here's what you need to know about the Erasmus M. Hanna House in Smith County. Built about 1872 by Dr.

Hanna himself, one of the founders of Troup, and a man who clearly could not sit still. Medicine alone wasn't enough. No, Dr.

Hanna also had his hands in East Texas railroads, clay industries, and the first hotel in Troup. You get the sense this was a fellow who walked into a room and started building something before he'd even taken his hat off. Now his wife, Virginia Morris Hanna, was the daughter of Judge and Mrs.

Stephen Decatur Morris, East Texas pioneers, so she came from stock that knew something about putting down roots in hard ground. Together they built something that lasted. Five generations of Hanna descendants have lived in that house.

Five. Let that settle over you a moment. The same walls, the same roof, the same beaded bay windows and high-arched gables looking out over Smith County across more than a century of Texas living.

And those gables aren't just tall, they're Victorian tall, the kind of architecture that says we are here and we intend to stay. The house itself is built of cypress, pine, and cedar, three woods that each have their own story about endurance, and together they've held the shape of a home through everything Texas has seen fit to throw at it. Dr.

Hanna built about 1872, and what he built, his family kept. That's not a small thing. That's the whole story.

What the marker says

Built about 1872 by Dr. Hanna, one of founders of Troup, and an investor in East Texas railroads and clay industries. Besides his medical practice, his interests included first hotel in Troup. Wife, Virginia Morris Hanna, was daughter of East Texas pioneers, Judge and Mrs. Stephen Decatur Morris. Five generations of Hanna descendants have lived here. Victorian architecture. Beaded bay windows; high-arched gables. Of cypress, pine, cedar woods. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1968