George Thomas McGehee House

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, there are houses that stand quiet on a street and hold more history than most courthouses, and the George Thomas McGehee House in Hays County is one of those. Let me walk you through it.

George Thomas McGehee came into this world in 1836, and by 1846 he was already here, a boy moving with his parents, Minerva and Thomas Gilmer McGehee, into the San Marcos area when it was still raw frontier. Among the first settlers in those parts. You don't forget a place you arrive at that early.

It gets in the bone. George Thomas would go on to prove that. He fought in the Civil War riding with Terry's Texas Rangers, which is not a unit for the faint of heart or the slow of horse.

Then, when the guns were quiet, he turned to the business of government, serving three terms in the State Legislature, 1887 to 1891, and again 1893 to 1894. A man who had seen both ends of history's rifle. And then, in 1895, he and his wife Sarah Cherokee Woods McGehee did something lasting.

They built this house. A turreted Victorian residence, right there in San Marcos. Turrets.

In 1895. That is a man telling the town something about himself, and the town has been listening ever since. Sarah Cherokee Woods McGehee was born in 1849, and the two of them raised this place together.

George Thomas McGehee lived until 1926. Sarah until 1928. The house outlasted them both, the way good houses do.

Then, in 1949, Homer M. and Vola Thompson bought it and restored it. Homer was born in 1897 and died in 1972. Vola's hand is in that restoration too, and the house is better for it.

Some buildings survive because nobody gets around to tearing them down. This one survived because people kept choosing it. That's the difference.

What the marker says

Among the first settlers in the San Marcos area, George Thomas McGehee (1836-1926) moved here with his parents, Minerva (Hunt) and Thomas Gilmer McGehee, in 1846. He fought in the Civil War with Terry's Texas Rangers and served 3 terms in the State Legislature, 1887-91 and 1893-94. In 1895 he and his wife, Sarah Cherokee Woods McGehee (1849-1928), built this turreted Victorian residence. In 1949 it was bought and restored by Homer M. (1897-1972) and Vola Thompson. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1975