Glenn and Mary Gulledge Crain House

Duane's take

The way I tell it, I'm going on what the official marker says, so let me lay it out for you straight. Now, McGregor, Texas has seen its share of families put down roots and leave something behind. But the story of Glenn and Mary Gulledge Crain, and the house they built, is one worth slowing down for.

Glenn Crain was born in 1869, and he moved to McGregor with his family sometime before 1886. How do we know 1886 is the landmark? Because that's the year his father was elected the city's very first mayor.

First one. You don't forget a year like that in a family. Glenn, meanwhile, was finding his own footing.

He began selling insurance, and then in 1890, he married Mary E. Gulledge, born 1868. Two people with a plan.

Two years after that wedding, in 1892, they hired a man named Charles Walsh to build them a home. Now here's where the house itself becomes the story. It was designed in the Shingle Style.

That might not sound like much until you learn that the Shingle Style is rare in Texas. Rare. This wasn't the kind of house every contractor in the county was throwing up on a corner lot.

It had a cross gable plan, and then there's the piece that really catches the eye: a semi-circular belvedere perched right on the front gable end. Unique, the marker says, and I have no reason to argue. Glenn and Mary were active in the local Methodist church.

They raised their family in that house. And when their chapter closed, subsequent generations kept right on owning it, occupying it, living inside those shingled walls all the way until the year 2000. Glenn Crain lived until 1949.

Mary E. Gulledge Crain lived until 1960. The house outlasted them both, and for over a century it stood as proof that sometimes a family, a craftsman named Charles Walsh, and one beautifully unusual belvedere can add up to something worth remembering.

What the marker says

Glenn and Mary Gulledge Crain House Glenn Crain (1869-1949) moved to McGregor with his family prior to 1886, when his father was elected the city's first mayor. Crain began selling insurance and, in 1890, married Mary E. Gulledge (1868-1960). They hired Charles Walsh to build this home in 1892. The couple, active in the local Methodist church, raised their family here, and subsequent generations owned and occupied the home until 2000. The house was designed in the Shingle Style, rare in Texas. Features include a cross gable plan and a unique semi-circular belvedere on the front gable end. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2002