Frank Kell Home

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna give it to you straight. Frank Kell was a native Texan, born in 1859, and if you're lookin' for a man who left his mark on this corner of the state, well, you found him. He lived until 1941, and in that span of years he built something considerable.

Kell partnered up with his brother-in-law, a man named Joseph A. Kemp, and together those two became about as prominent a pair of businessmen and civic leaders as Wichita Falls ever produced. Now, that's not a small thing to say about a place that was growin' fast and needed big thinkers to grow with it.

Kell had his hands in the grain business, in banking, in real estate, and in railroad construction, and the marker credits those developments with helping make Wichita Falls the economic center of the whole region. The whole region. That's a legacy worth pausin' on.

Then came 1909, and Frank Kell decided his family deserved a proper home to match what he'd helped build around them. He had this classical revival house constructed, and he didn't settle for ordinary. The firm of Jones and Orlopp designed it, and when it was done, it was the kind of place that said something without havin' to say a word.

Here's the part that stays with you, though. That house remained in the hands of Frank Kell's own descendants for over seventy years. Over seventy years of the same family under the same roof he built for them.

Some legacies are measured in grain and railroads. Some are measured in a front door that keeps openin' for your own.

What the marker says

Native Texan Frank Kell (1859-1941), in partnership with his brother in law Joseph A. Kemp, became a prominent area businessman and civic leader. His developments in the grain business, banking, real estate, and railroad construction helped make Wichita Falls the economic center of the region. In 1909 he had this classical revival house built for his family. Designed by the firm of Jones and Orlopp, it was owned by descendants of Frank Kell for over 70 years. (Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1980.)