Fry - Butcher House

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, some stories start with land, and this one's no different. Out here in Ellis County, Sam and Sarah Jane Fry (she went by Jennie) purchased one hundred and fifty acres in 1882.

One hundred and fifty acres. That's a serious commitment to a piece of Texas ground. And they didn't let the grass grow under their feet, because come 1883, they were building.

To help raise that farmhouse, they brought in a noted local carpenter by the name of Lewis Butcher. Now, when a man is called a noted carpenter, that's not idle flattery; that means his reputation preceded him, and what he and the Frys put up together was something worth noting. The house came out in the Queen Anne style, which out here on the Texas prairie meant a gable roof catching every bit of weather the sky cared to throw at it, and turned-wood porch posts standing their ground with some elegance.

There were jig-sawn brackets and porch friezes too; the kind of fine detailing that says whoever built this wasn't just putting up walls, they were making a statement. The years rolled on, as years do, and eventually the property passed to George A. Butcher, Jennie's son from a previous marriage.

The Butcher name, the Fry land, one family holding it all together. And they held on to it, all the way until 1986. Over a hundred years after Sam and Jennie first walked that ground.

That farmhouse is still considered an excellent local example of what the Queen Anne style looked like when it touched down in Ellis County, and now you know exactly why.

What the marker says

Sam and Sarah Jane "Jennie" Fry purchased 150 arces here in 1882. Aided by noted local carpenter Lewis Butcher, the Frys built this farmhouse in 1883. The house is an excellent local example of the Queen Anne architectural style and features a gable roof, turned-wood porch posts, and jig-sawn brackets and porch friezes. The property eventually passed to George A. Butcher, Jennie's son from a previous marriage, and remained in the family until 1986.