Holman Home

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Holman Home in Navarro County. Now, every good house has a story, and this one starts not with bricks and mortar, but with cotton. William Lee Holman, born in 1863, came to Corsicana in 1908 with a purpose.

He was there to manage the Southland Cotton Oil Mill, and a man with that kind of position, well, he needed a home worthy of the work. So in 1914, he built one. And friend, he did not build small.

The house he put up is classical revival in style, which already tells you something about the ambition behind it. But it doesn't stop there. You look a little closer and you start seeing late Victorian touches, and then Prairie School elements woven in alongside them.

It's the kind of place that makes you stop on the sidewalk and just take stock. Holman and his family kept that home for eighteen years. Eighteen years of Corsicana life, of cotton economy, of a city finding its footing as a real cotton center in Texas.

After the Holmans, other Corsicana residents came to occupy the place, and the years moved on the way years do. But the home's tie to William Lee Holman, who died in 1932, never quite faded. That association, the marker tells us, reflects the city's early growth as a cotton center.

The cotton's long gone from those mills. But the house is still standing, still showing off those classical lines with their Victorian and Prairie School company. Some stories, it turns out, are built to last.

What the marker says

William Lee Holman (1863-1932) moved to Corsicana in 1908 to become the manager of the Southland Cotton Oil Mill. He built this home in 1914,and it remained in his family for eighteen years. The classical revival style house also exhibits late Victorian and Prairie School elements. Occupied in later years by other Corsicana residents, the home's association with the Holman family reflects the city's early growth as a cotton center. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1983