DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker says about Fanthorp Inn, out there in Grimes County. Pull up a chair, because this old building has seen more history than most places twice its age. Henry Fanthorp built it in 1834 — built it as a home, mind you, for his bride Rachel Kennard.
A love story framed in timber and Texas dirt. But somewhere along the way, that home got bigger. It got enlarged into a hotel, and before long it was doing double duty as the first mercantile establishment in the region and the first post office too, that post office standing open by 1835.
So in the space of a single year, this place went from a newlywed's house to the beating commercial heart of the whole region. You want something shipped, sold, or sorted — you rode to Fanthorp's. Now the stage lines knew it too.
The route running from Houston to Old Springfield passed right through here, and the line connecting Nacogdoches to Austin crossed this very same ground. That means travelers coming from every direction on the Texas compass were setting foot under this roof, dusty and road-worn, looking for a meal and a night's rest. And some of those travelers were carrying the weight of a young republic on their shoulders.
On July 3rd, 1845, Kenneth Lewis Anderson — the Vice-President of the Republic of Texas — died here at Fanthorp Inn. The Republic itself was nearing its end, about to join the Union, and here was its Vice-President, drawing his last breath not in some grand capitol hall but in a roadside inn in Grimes County. There's something that stays with you about that.
The crossroads of a continent, the crossroads of a nation, and one life ending quietly at the intersection of them all.
What the marker says
Built in 1834 by Henry Fanthorp as a home for his bride, Rachel Kennard. Enlarged for hotel purpose. Served as first mercantile establishment and first post office (1835) in the region. Here Kenneth Lewis Anderson, vice-president of the Republic of Texas, died July 3, 1845. Stage lines from Houston to Old Springfield and Nacogdoches to Austin crossed here.