DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll give it to you straight. Isham Tubbs came into this world in 1852, and if you're doing the math, he walked it for ninety-five years — all the way to 1947. That right there ought to tell you something about the man.
He married Texana Spikes — and yes, that was her given name, Texana — in Kaufman County in 1877. She was born in 1857, and together they made quite a pair. Around 1890, the two of them pulled up stakes and moved out to the Monterey area of Lubbock County.
Wide open country. Wind you could set your watch by. Isham didn't just settle in — he dug in.
He became one of the first school board trustees in the area, and a charter member of Lubbock's First United Methodist Church. A man building something on every front. Now here's where the story gets its texture.
Texana had been leafing through a magazine, the way you do on a quiet evening, and she saw a sketch of a house. Something about it caught her eye, caught her heart maybe. And Isham — well, Isham took note.
In 1907 and 1908, he arranged for lumber to be hauled out of east Texas, first by rail and then by wagon, all the way to Lubbock County, to build that house. The one from the sketch. What went up was one of the last Queen Anne-style homes in the entire area.
But Isham didn't just build a showpiece. He built it smart — two separate living spaces under one roof, so that Isham and Texana, their children, their extended family, could all have shelter and privacy at the same time. Room enough for everybody, walls enough for a little peace.
Texana passed in 1930. Isham lived on in that house through decades she never saw. And the family?
They held on too. Members of the Tubbs family were still living in that house at the turn of the twenty-first century. One magazine sketch.
One man with a wagon full of lumber. And a home that outlasted nearly everyone who thought they'd seen everything West Texas had to offer.
What the marker says
Isham Tubbs (1852-1947) married Texana Spikes (1857-1930) in Kaufman County in 1877. They moved to the Monterey area of Lubbock County circa 1890. Isham became one of the first school board trustees and a charter member of Lubbock's First United Methodist Church. He brought lumber from east Texas by rail and wagon in 1907-08 to build this home, basing it on a magazine sketch admired by Texana. One of the last Queen Anne-style homes in the area, the building also housed two separate living spaces. This provided Isham and Texana, and their children and extended family, privacy and shelter under one roof. Members of the family were still living in the house at the turn of the 21st century. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2002