Gober-Barron-Williford House

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna give it to you straight with a little extra wind behind it. Out on the South Plains, in Cottle County, there stands a Late Victorian structure that's been turning heads since 1896; and in that country, at that time, turning heads was no small feat. This is the Gober-Barron-Williford House, and it has a story worth slowing down for.

When Joe L. Gober built that house in 1896, he was the first sheriff Cottle County ever had, serving from 1892 to 1898, and he apparently decided that if he was going to be the law in this territory, he was going to live like it. Fine glass windows.

Gingerbread trim. The whole Late Victorian statement. Now, here's where you have to appreciate the sheer ambition of the thing: at the very same time Joe Gober was hanging that gingerbread trim, most of his neighbors were living in dugouts.

Holes in the ground, folks. The earth itself was the architecture. And that railroad?

Paducah didn't get a railway line until 1909. So every stick of lumber, every pane of fine glass, every last piece of trim on that house had to be hauled overland, from Childress, from Quanah, the nearest railroad towns, out across that open country. You wanted to build something fine in Cottle County in 1896, you earned it the hard way.

Eventually, Joe Gober sold the home, and it passed to W. M. Barron, the county's third sheriff, which means this house had a particular pull on the lawmen of Cottle County.

Two sheriffs under one roof, different years, same walls. Since 1941, the J. H.

Williford family has held onto it, and the house has been standin' there ever since (fine glass, gingerbread trim, and all) out where once there were only dugouts and a long dirt road to the railroad. Some houses just refuse to be ordinary. This was always one of them.

What the marker says

Late Victorian structure, has fine glass and gingerbread trim. Built 1896 and lived in by first (1892-1898) Cottle County Sheriff, Joe L. Gober. At that time, many townspeople lived in dugouts. Building materials had to be hauled from railroad towns of Childress and Quanah. (Paducah acquired railway line in 1909). Gober sold home to W. M. Barron, who was County's third sheriff. Since, 1941, it has been owned by the J. H. Williford family. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1962