John F. McGehee Home

Duane's take

The way the marker tells it, here's the story of the John F. McGehee Home in Hays County. Now settle in, because this house has a few good chapters in it.

John Francis McGehee was born in 1838, and by the time the Civil War came and went, he had served in Hood's Brigade. That is not a footnote. Hood's Brigade was one of the most storied fighting units in the Confederate army, and McGehee came through it.

He lived until 1922, which means he had a long, long stretch of years on the other side of all that. And somewhere in those years, in 1889, he built himself a house. Now, he did not cut corners.

The pine for that house was hauled all the way from Bastrop. The siding was cypress. The brick was handmade.

And the style, if you were an architect of the day, you would have called it Eastlake, a particular kind of 19th century ornamentation that had a fondness for turned woodwork and decorative trim and a general sense that a house ought to look like it meant something. McGehee held onto the place until 1906, when he sold the property. After that, the house started collecting lives the way old houses do.

Dr. J. R.

Morton and his wife Frances M. Morton moved in, and they were there from 1920 to 1951. Frances Morton was no ordinary neighbor.

She was San Marcos' poet laureate. A poet laureate living in a house built by a Civil War veteran, under cypress siding and handmade brick. Then in 1955 the George N.

Martindales took ownership, and the marker notes they have owned it since. Three families, one careful house, still standing in Hays County as proof that good pine and handmade brick and a little bit of Eastlake ambition can outlast just about everything.

What the marker says

Built in 1889 by John Francis McGehee (1838-1922), a veteran of Hood's Brigade in Civil War. The house, constructed of pine hauled from Bastrop, cypress siding, and handmade brick, is of 19th century Eastlake architectural style. Since McGehee sold the property in 1906, it has had several owners. Dr. J. R. Morton, whose wife, Frances M. Morton, was San Marcos' poet laureate, lived here 1920-51. The George N. Martindales have owned the house since 1955. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1973