Florence Ranch Home

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and here's how I'm passin' it on to you. Out in Dallas County, there's a ranch house with a story that starts the way the best Texas stories do: a young couple, a piece of land, and the will to build something from scratch. David W.

Florence was born in 1848, and his wife Julia Savannah, born a Beaty, came into the world in 1850. Together they left Van Zandt County and set down roots on new ground, and in 1871 and 1872 they built the first portion of what would become the Florence Ranch Home. Simple frame construction, nothing too fancy in the bones of it.

But then somebody decided that a plain frame structure deserved a little flair, and so they added elaborate wood trim right along the gallery. That detail right there tells you something about the people. You don't add that kind of handiwork if you're not planning to stay.

And stay they did. By the 1890s, the Florence homestead had grown to seven hundred and thirty acres. Seven hundred and thirty.

They called it Meadow View Farm, and that name carries its own quiet poetry. David kept at it until 1908, when he finally retired. Julia Savannah passed in 1914.

David himself lived on until 1932. When David stepped back from the ranch, the next generation was ready. His son Emet, born in 1885, and Emet's wife Perle, born a Curtis in 1889, took the reins and kept Meadow View Farm running.

Perle lived all the way to 1976, and Emet to 1963, so between the two of them, this family held that land across a span of time that would make most folks dizzy just thinking about it. One piece of ground, one family name, one gallery dressed up with wood trim that somebody cared enough to get right. That's the Florence Ranch Home, and it's still out there in Dallas County to prove it.

What the marker says

David W. (1848 - 1932) and Julia Savannah (Beaty) Florence (1850 - 1914) built the first portion of this ranch house in 1871-72 after moving here from Van Zandt County. Elaborate wood trim decorates the gallery of the simple frame structure. The house was enlarged by the 1890s, when the Florence homestead covered 730 acres. After Florence retired in 1908, his son Emet (1885 - 1963) and Emet's wife Perle (Curtis)) (1889 - 1976) continued to run the ranch, known as Meadow View Farm. RTHL - 1978