Kirby-Hill House

Duane's take

The way the marker tells it, here's the story of the Kirby-Hill House. Frank T. Smith, out of Beaumont, designed this place, and in 1902 it went up right here in Hardin County.

The man who called it home was James L. Kirby, born in 1844, and his wife Martha Slater Kirby, born in 1840. James served as superintendent of the Kirby Lumber Company, which was founded by his brother, John Henry Kirby.

Now, when you've got a lumber company in the family and you're building a house, you use what you have. Most of the materials that went into this place came straight from the Kirby Mills. You can imagine the boards being cut, shaped, and hauled right over.

What they built was something to see. Colonial revival and Victorian styling, all woven together. Vertical siding running clean up the walls.

Forty-eight pillars. Forty-eight. Curved walls where you'd expect corners.

And six shingled gable ends capping it all off like punctuation at the end of a very fine sentence. Martha Slater Kirby passed in 1907, and James followed in 1922. The house then passed to their daughter Lucy and her husband Austin M.

Hill, Sr. And the Hills held on to it. Generation after generation, the descendants of Lucy and Austin Hill lived within those curved walls and beneath those six gable ends.

They stayed until 1990. Nearly a century after Frank T. Smith put pencil to paper in Beaumont, the family finally stepped away.

Some houses outlast the people who love them. This one earned that right with forty-eight pillars and every plank from the family mill.

What the marker says

Designed by Frank T. Smith of Beaumont and built in 1902, this was the home of James L. (1844-1922) and Martha Slater (1840-1907) Kirby. James Kirby was superintendent of the Kirby Lumber Company, founded by his brother John Henry Kirby. Most of the home's materials came from the Kirby Mills. Colonial revival and Victorian stylistic features include vertical siding, 48 pillars, curved walls, and six shingled gable ends. The house was inherited by the Kirby's daughter Lucy and her husband Austin M. Hill, Sr. Their descendants lived here until 1990. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1998