George L. and Roxie Brooks Porter Home

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and here's how I'm bringin' it to you. In Hill County, Texas, some houses just carry a certain weight. The kind of weight that comes from good timber, solid columns, and a family that knew how to put down roots.

This is the story of one of those houses. The George L. and Roxie Brooks Porter Home. Now, George L.

Porter was a Tennessee native, born in 1854, and in 1881 he married a woman named Roxie Brooks, born in 1863. Roxie wasn't just anybody in Hill County. Her father was Cincinattus Ney Brooks, an early official in Hill County, and that name alone told you something about the standing of the family she came from.

George, for his part, was building his own kind of standing. He was working as a merchant over in Peoria, a little town about six miles to the west, and later he moved into banking. Not just any banking, mind you.

He served as an officer at Sturgis National and Citizens National banks right there in Hillsboro. The Porters were community leaders. Active members of Hillsboro's First Baptist Church.

The kind of people a town points to and says, they're the ones holding things together. Now here is where the story gets its shape. In 1901, Roxie's brother, O.D.

Brooks, constructed this Queen Anne style house. And that same year, he sold it to George and Roxie. Family building something beautiful, and then handing it straight to family.

The house itself is something to behold. A wrapped porch. Tuscan columns.

Decorative shingling. A massed plan with a hipped roof and cross gables. Every detail of it speaks to an era when a house wasn't just a place to sleep.

It was a statement. George Porter passed in 1928. Roxie in 1927.

But the house they moved into that year of 1901 is still standing in Hill County, telling anybody who slows down long enough to listen exactly who built this part of Texas.

What the marker says

In 1881, Tennessee native George L. Porter (1854-1928) wed Roxie Brooks (1863-1927), daughter of early Hill County official Cincinattus Ney Brooks. George was a merchant in nearby Peoria (6 mi. W) and later served as an officer in Sturgis National and Citizens National banks in Hillsboro. The Porters were community leaders and active members of Hillsboro's First Baptist Church. In 1901, Roxie's brother O.D. Brooks constructed this Queen Anne style house, selling it to the couple that same year. It features a wrapped porch, Tuscan columns, decorative shingling, and a massed plan with hipped roof and cross gables. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2004