Hawkins House

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, in my own words. Now, some houses just sit there. Four walls, a roof, done.

But then there are houses that seem to grow, like they've got ambitions of their own. The Hawkins House in Ellis County is that second kind. It started its life in 1851, when a man named Benjamin Franklin Hawkins put up a one-story house right here on this spot.

Hawkins was a member of the Peters Colony, and he wasn't just passing through; he was instrumental in the very organization of Ellis County itself. A man with a hand in shaping a county tends to plant roots, and plant them he did. Now, one story was enough for a while.

But somewhere in the 1880s, that modest house got a notion. It was incorporated into a two-story structure: the original bones folded right into something bigger, something grander, like the house swallowed its own past and kept on growin'. And then (and this is where it really gets interesting) Benjamin Franklin's son, Frank Lee Hawkins, took a look at what they had and decided it needed one more chapter.

In 1903, Frank Lee remodeled the whole thing into a Colonial Revival. We're talkin' large fluted Corinthian columns rising up proud, a two-story balcony trimmed with a balustrade, and decorative dentils running along like a crown. From a one-story settler's house to a Colonial Revival showpiece, same ground, same family, across more than half a century.

That's not just a house. That's a legacy that kept building itself.

What the marker says

Benjamin Franklin Hawkins, a member of the Peters Colony who was instrumental in the organization of Ellis County, built a one-story house here in 1851. It was incorporated into a two-story house in the 1880s, and was remodeled into its current Colonial Revival appearance by Hawkins' son, Frank Lee, in 1903. Prominent features include its large fluted Corinthian columns, two-story balcony with balustrade, and decorative dentils.