John C. Collier Home

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the John C. Collier Home in Mansfield, Texas. Now, some houses just sit there.

Four walls, a roof, mind their own business. And then there are houses that seem to collect history the way a front porch collects stories, one after another, each one worth the telling. The John C.

Collier Home in Mansfield is that second kind. It starts with the man himself. John C.

Collier, born 1834, lived all the way to 1928, which is a run that would impress anybody, was a South Carolina native, a Presbyterian minister, and by all accounts a distinguished educator. In 1869, someone looked around Mansfield and decided what this town needed was a school, and they asked Collier to build it. He did.

Mansfield Male and Female College opened its doors in 1870 and kept them open until 1887, turning out graduates and community leaders the whole while. Now, a man founding a college needs somewhere to lay his head. So in 1877, Collier built himself a home just west of the college.

But it wasn't his alone for long; the house also served as a residence for female teachers and students. That's the kind of place it was from the start. Useful.

Central. Part of the whole operation. Then in 1890, the A.J.

Dukes family took ownership of the Collier house, and they held it until 1909. The Dukes family weren't content to just live there; they made some major alterations, including the addition of Mansfield's first indoor bathroom. Now, you can decide for yourself how big a deal that was, but I suspect anyone who'd been doing without it had a strong opinion.

In 1909, the house passed to Dr. William B. and Sallie (born Hodges) McKnight, and here's the part that has a certain poetry to it: both of them had graduated from Mansfield Male and Female College. The very institution this house stood beside had educated the people who would next call it home.

Dr. McKnight had established his medical practice in Mansfield back in 1895, and he also served as physician for the Southern Pacific Railroad. He and Sallie lived in that house until 1944.

And 1944 brought one more turn. T.E. Blessing (known to most folks as Ernie) adapted the home into Mansfield's first funeral home.

A building that had sheltered a college founder, hosted students and teachers, welcomed a doctor and his wife, now became the place a community turned to in its hardest moments. There's a weight to that, if you sit with it. The marker calls this home significant for its association with an early Texas educational institution and with several families of community leaders.

That's the careful language of history. But strip it back and what you've got is a house in Mansfield that watched a town grow up around it, and never once stopped being at the center of things.

What the marker says

This structure was built in 1877 as a residence for the founder of Mansfield Male and Female College, John C. Collier (1834-1928). A native of South Carolina, Collier was distinguished educator and Presbyterian minister who in 1869 was asked to establish a school in Mansfield. The college operated from 1870 until 1887 and produced outstanding graduates and community leaders. Located west of the college, the home served also as a residence for female teachers and students. From 1890 to 1909, the A.J. Dukes family owned the Collier house. They made some major alterations to the home, including the addition of Mansfield's first indoor bathroom. Occupants of the home from 1909 until 1944 were Dr. William B. and Sallie (Hodges) McKnight, both of whom had graduated from Mansfield Male and Female College. Dr. McKnight established a medical practice in Mansfield in 1895 and also served as physician for the Southern Pacific Railroad. The house was adapted as Mansfield first funeral home by T.E. "Ernie" Blessing in 1944. Significant for its association with an early Texas educational institution and with several families of community leaders, the John C. Collier Home has remained a landmark in Mansfield. (1985)