Jordan-Bowles House

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm not gonna add a single log to this pile. Around 1860, somewhere along the Dallas-Fort Worth Road, a man named David Jordan put up a house. Not with milled lumber, not with anything fancy; with hand-hewn logs pulled right out of the bottomland of the Trinity River.

Jordan himself had come to Texas about 1859, hauling his whole household by wagon all the way from Tennessee. Born in 1808, he was the kind of man who didn't just farm. He kept a store, ran a stage stand, and did it all on a road that connected Dallas to Fort Worth.

Now, that road was no quiet country lane. Indian raids were frequent in those days. And if that weren't enough to keep a man on his toes, there was an 1870 hold-up right there on the property, and the outlaw gang of Sam Bass was suspected of pulling it off.

Whether they did or didn't, that's what the record says, and this old house stood through every bit of it. In 1886, Victor Bowles bought the property, and it stayed in the Bowles family for sixty-five years. Sixty-five years.

Then Miss Minnie Bowles remodeled the house in 1948, and in 1951 she donated it to the city. Hand-hewn logs from the Trinity, a Tennessee farmer, stage coaches, suspected outlaws, and one generous woman with a vision; and now it's a museum and meeting place. Some houses just refuse to be forgotten.

What the marker says

Built about 1860 of hand-hewn logs from bottomland of Trinity River. The builder, David Jordan (1808 -79), came to Texas about 1859, moving his household by wagon from Tennessee. A farmer, he also kept a store and a stage stand on the Dallas-Fort Worth Road. At that time Indian raids were frequent, and the outlaw gang of Sam Bass was suspected of committing an 1870 hold-up here. In 1886 Victor Bowles bought property, which remained in his family for 65 years. Miss Minnie Bowles remodeled house in 1948 and in 1951 donated it to city. Now museum and meeting place.