DUANE
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Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, the way I heard it told. Bell County, Texas. And the name on this house is Fletcher.
James Andrew Fletcher, born 1858, died 1944, a Bell County native who made himself into one of Temple's leading businessmen. Now that right there is the short version. The marker has a little more to say, and so do I.
In 1907, Fletcher moved on a local business, and he didn't do it alone. He brought his son Omar in with him, and together they acquired an outfit that his brother-in-law, a man named Early Greathouse, had founded way back in 1881. Think about that for a moment.
A business that had already been running for over two decades, with roots in the family, and Fletcher saw exactly what it could become. That acquisition didn't stay a simple local business for long. It became the nucleus, that's the word the marker uses, the nucleus of Fletcher Enterprises, which grew into a prominent banking and industrial firm.
Nucleus. Like something was always going to grow out of it. Fletcher and his wife Susan Jane eventually needed a home worthy of everything they'd built, and in 1925 they got one.
Ernest Scrivener, out of San Antonio, designed and constructed this residence, and he gave it a mixture of styles that were popular during the era. Not one thing, not another, a little of everything that was in fashion when the nineteen-twenties were still feeling optimistic. James Andrew Fletcher lived from 1858 all the way to 1944.
He saw the business founded, acquired it, built an enterprise, and watched a house rise from the ground up. Some men leave a building. Fletcher left a whole enterprise and a landmark to go with it.
What the marker says
Bell County native James Andrew Fletcher (1858-1944) was a leading Temple businessman. In 1907, with his son Omar, he acquired a local business founded in 1881 by his brother-in-law Early Greathouse. It became the nucleus of Fletcher Enterprises, a prominent banking and industrial firm. This residence was designed and constructed for Fletcher and his wife Susan Jane in 1925 by Ernest Scrivener of San Antonio. It features a mixture of styles popular during the era. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1981