Humphris-Humphreys House

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm just along for the ride. Out here in Presidio County, there's a house that's seen more chapters than most books you'll find on any shelf. The Humphris-Humphreys House.

And the name alone ought to tip you off that this story has more than one act. The house went up in 1883, built by a local builder by the name of Saturnino Naborette. Now, Naborette didn't cut any corners.

He put up something that spoke to the way people built out in west Texas in those early pioneer days. A central hallway running straight through the heart of it, with four rooms on either side. Four on one side, four on the other.

Balanced, sturdy, practical. The kind of house that says: we are here, and we intend to stay. The man who first called it home was John Humphris, a rancher, a merchant, and a community leader.

His wife Mary was there alongside him. Together they made that house something more than timber and adobe. Then comes 1915, and here's where the story turns.

A schoolteacher named Sally Humphreys, wife of rancher Joe Humphreys, purchased the place. Sally Humphreys, schoolteacher. She looked at those eight rooms and that long central hallway and she saw possibility.

She ran a boardinghouse out of that house all the way until 1937. Think about what those walls absorbed over those years. The travelers, the ranchers passing through, the conversations at supper, the boots on that central hallway floor.

Two families, two different eras, one house holding all of it together. Presidio County keeps its stories close, but every once in a while, a building tells you everything you need to know.

What the marker says

This was the home of rancher, merchant and community leader John Humphris and his wife Mary. Built in 1883 by local builder Saturnino Naborette, the house represents traditional building methods of early pioneer days in west Texas, with a central hallway with four rooms on either side. The house was purchased in 1915 by schoolteacher Sally Humphreys, wife of rancher Joe Humphreys, who ran a boardinghouse here until 1937. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1996