Hopping-Aldridge House

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Way out in Parmer County, there's a house with a story that starts before the first nail was ever driven. The year was 1917.

A man named R. C. Hopping had just purchased a piece of property, and construction on a new home began not long after.

Now, Hopping was no ordinary buyer. This was a man who had already served Parmer County as commissioner and as sheriff. He knew the land, knew the people, knew the work.

But here's the thing about this house: Hopping sold the property to James and Minnie Aldridge before the home was even completed. Somebody else would be the first to walk through that front door. James Aldridge stepped into this unfinished house and, in 1918, he was elected county sheriff.

So the place that Hopping the former sheriff built, a new sheriff moved into. The Aldridges didn't stop there, either. Minnie Aldridge, she wasn't content to simply keep house.

She served as school board president and as county treasurer. Between the two of them, the Aldridges were running a good portion of Parmer County right out of that front parlor. The house itself is what's called a Foursquare plan, solid and square and sensible, topped with a hip roof that sheds rain and weather with equal indifference.

It is, in other words, exactly the kind of house a sheriff would build and another sheriff would be proud to call home. Some houses just seem to draw a certain kind of person. This one drew two.

What the marker says

Construction on this home began in 1917, soon after the property was purchased by R. C. Hopping. Hopping, who earlier had served as Parmer County commissioner and sheriff, sold the property to James and Minnie Aldridge before the home was completed. James Aldridge was elected county sheriff in 1918, and Minnie served as school board president and county treasurer. The house is a Foursquare plan in design and features a hip roof. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark-1984