DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the Texas Historical Commission put on the marker for the James Newton and Eva Tabor Rayzor House in Denton County. Now settle in, because this one's got layers. It starts in Kentucky and ends up being woven so deep into the fabric of Denton, Texas that you'd be hard pressed to find a thread of that town's history that doesn't run through this family somehow.
December 10, 1858 — that's when James Newton Rayzor first drew breath, out in Lockport, Kentucky. He was just a boy, maybe seven or eight years old, when his family packed up everything they owned and immigrated to Texas in the fall of 1866. Now, 1866 — you think about what Texas was in 1866, still finding its footing after the war, and here comes the Rayzor family, rolling in and planting roots in Collin County.
By 1871 they've moved again, this time to Cooke County, and young James — he's growing into a man now — he starts teaching school. Prairie Grove first, then Pilot Point, then the Mustang Community over in Denton County. A schoolteacher, wandering the edges of north Texas with chalk-dusted hands and, apparently, very large ambitions.
Then 1882 arrives, and two things happen that matter enormously. He moves to Denton, and he marries Eva Tabor. Eva was born May 18, 1864, right there in Pilot Point — a girl of that very country he'd been teaching in.
And from that moment, these two become one of those couples that a town quietly builds itself around without quite realizing it's happening. Because James Newton Rayzor did not sit still. The man was involved in the Alliance Mill — which you'd know today as Morrison Milling Company — the Alliance Ice Company, and his own Rayzor Ice Company.
He served as president of the Denton Chamber of Commerce. He was active in the Masonic Lodge. He sat on the John B.
Denton College Committee that founded that school in 1901. He helped establish what was then called the State Industrial School for Girls, the institution that eventually became Texas Woman's University. And for forty-four years — forty-four — he served as a deacon at the First Baptist Church.
In whatever hours were left over after all of that, he wrote books. Religion, history, and a whole account of his 1923 travels to Europe and the Holy Land. The man was, by any measure, relentless.
Now, in 1906, James and Eva purchased a piece of property in Denton, and by 1909, working with contractor M.T. Goodwin, they completed a home. And here's where the story gets architectural.
This is a Prairie Style house — horizontal lines running bold and deliberate, overhanging eaves that jut out farther than you'd expect, a hipped roof sheltering the second-story bedrooms. Ribbons of windows line the south and southwest sides, pulling in all that Texas light. Inside, repetitive millwork and tongue and groove oak floors give the place a warmth that photographs can't quite capture.
And then there's the screened sleeping porch — filled with numerous beds, for company and for family both, in those long, breathless north Texas summers before air conditioning made us all forget what heat really feels like. James and Eva Rayzor lived in that house, grew old in that house. James passed away in 1938.
Eva followed him in 1939. One year apart, after a lifetime together — there's a whole unwritten chapter in that single year of distance. Their descendants held onto the home until 1978, nearly four decades after the last Rayzor left it.
Seventy-two years from when they first bought that land to when it finally passed out of family hands. A schoolteacher from Kentucky who came to Texas in 1866 and just — never stopped building. That's James Newton Rayzor, and that's the house he and Eva left standing.
What the marker says
JAMES NEWTON RAYZOR WAS BORN DECEMBER 10, 1858 IN LOCKPORT, KENTUCKY. HE IMMIGRATED TO TEXAS IN THE FALL OF 1866 WITH HIS FAMILY AND SETTLED IN COLLIN COUNTY. IN 1871, THE FAMILY MOVED TO COOKE COUNTY WHERE RAYZOR LATER TAUGHT SCHOOL AT PRAIRIE GROVE AND AT PILOT POINT AND MUSTANG COMMUNITY IN DENTON COUNTY. HE MOVED TO DENTON IN 1882 AND MARRIED EVA TABOR, WHO WAS BORN MAY 18, 1864 IN PILOT POINT. RAYZOR WAS INVOLVED IN MANY BUSINESS VENTURES INCLUDING THE ALLIANCE MILL (NOW MORRISON MILLING CO.), ALLIANCE ICE COMPANY AND RAYZOR ICE COMPANY. HE WAS ACTIVE IN COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS SUCH AS THE MASONIC LODGE, SERVED AS PRESIDENT OF THE DENTON CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, WAS A MEMBER OF THE JOHN B. DENTON COLLEGE COMMITTEE THAT FOUNDED THE SCHOOL IN 1901 AND HELPED ESTABLISH THE STATE INDUSTRIAL SCHOOL FOR GIRLS (NOW TEXAS WOMAN’S UNIVERSITY). RAYZOR SERVED AS A DEACON AT THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH FOR 44 YEARS AND ALSO AUTHORED SEVERAL BOOKS ABOUT RELIGION, HISTORY AND HIS 1923 TRAVELS TO EUROPE AND THE HOLY LAND. JAMES AND EVA PURCHASED THE PROPERTY IN 1906 AND COMPLETED THE HOME IN 1909 WITH CONTRACTOR M.T. GOODWIN. THIS PRAIRIE STYLE HOME FEATURES HORIZONTAL LINES, EXAGGERATED OVERHANGING EAVES AND A HIPPED ROOF OVER THE SECOND-STORY BEDROOMS. RIBBONS OF WINDOWS LINE THE SOUTH AND SOUTHWEST SIDE OF THE HOME, AND REPETITIVE MILLWORK AND TONGUE AND GROOVE OAK FLOORS COMPLEMENT THE INTERIOR. THE SCREENED SLEEPING PORCH CONTAINED NUMEROUS BEDS FOR COMPANY AND THE FAMILY DURING HOT SUMMERS. AFTER JAMES AND EVA PASSED AWAY IN 1938 AND 1939, RESPECTIVELY, THEIR DESCENDANTS OWNED THE HOME UNTIL 1978.