DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the John Hickman Miller House in Dallas County. Now settle in, because this one starts the way all the best Texas stories do — with a man trying to impress a woman. Dallas businessman John Hickman Miller had this house built in 1904, and he didn't build it for himself.
No sir. He had it built as a wedding gift for his wife, Katherine — though everybody who knew her called her Kitty. Kitty Melone Miller.
You have to appreciate a man who doesn't just show up with flowers. John Hickman Miller showed up with an entire house. Now John wasn't starting from nothing.
He came from pioneer stock — his father was William B. Miller, an early area settler and the owner of Millermore, out in what's now Old City Park. So the son knew something about building things meant to last.
And last it has. What makes this house worth pullin' over for — beyond the story behind it — is the architecture itself. Shingle-style.
And not just rare in Dallas. One of the few examples of that style remaining in all of Texas. The outside is clad in those signature shingles, crowned with a gabled roof and wrapped in a wide veranda — the kind of porch that makes an afternoon feel slower than it actually is.
Step inside and you'll find a large basement area underneath it all, giving the whole structure a presence, a solidity. John Hickman Miller died in 1933. Kitty lived on until 1969.
And the house they started their marriage in — that 1904 wedding gift built in shingles and intention — is still standing. Some gifts, it turns out, are built to outlast nearly everything.
What the marker says
Dallas businessman John Hickman Miller (d. 1933) had this house built in 1904 as a wedding gift for his wife Katherine "Kitty" (Melone) (d. 1969) Miller was the son of pioneer area settler William B. Miller, owner of Millermore (in Old City Park). This house is one of the few examples of shingle-style architecture remaining in Texas. The interior includes a large basement area and the shingled exterior features a gabled roof and a wide veranda. RTHL - 1980