Lawrence Farmstead

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Lawrence Farmstead, out there in Dallas County. Now settle in, because this story starts with land, and it ends with a family that held onto that land for over a century. Those are the best kind of stories.

Stephen Decatur Lawrence was born in 1853, the son of an original member of the Mercer colony. And on his twenty-first birthday, he received about six hundred and forty acres of farmland. Six hundred and forty acres.

That is not a gift you forget. He got right to work, and in 1874 he began building the first structure on this site, a small home. Just him and that stretch of North Texas blackland prairie, getting started.

Now, a small home will do for a while. But by 1882, Stephen had contractor Charley Florrer out to the property, and Florrer built a T-plan house about six feet east of that original structure. Clapboard construction, square nails.

The kind of building that means a man intends to stay. Then in 1886, a kitchen room was added, and just like that, the floor plan shifted from a T to a cruciform. The house was growing along with the life being lived inside it.

And that central tower, that striking Victorian tower with its steeply pitched overhanging roof and those prominent porches, that became the signature of the place. You'd know the Lawrence home when you saw it. Charley Florrer came back in 1887 and built the barn.

Other structures went up just north of the main house, a smokehouse, a brick-lined root cellar, a wash house. A whole working farmstead taking shape piece by piece. Stephen and his first wife, Louisa E.

Porter, born in 1861, reared three surviving children here on that land. Louisa passed in 1891. Stephen later married his second wife, Louisa Hill Walker, born in 1867, and they reared eight children here together on those same acres.

Louisa Hill Walker lived until 1948. The Lawrence family, prominent in that part of Dallas County, kept living on this land. Generation after generation, from the 1870s all the way through to the late twentieth century, the farmstead standing as a record of how domestic life on the North Texas plains changed and grew and endured.

Then in 1995, thirteen and a half acres, including the family complex, became a city historical park. That happened according to the wishes of one of Stephen and Louisa's daughters. She wanted the land remembered.

And so it is.

What the marker says

The son of an original member of the Mercer colony, Stephen Decatur Lawrence (1853-1934) received about 640 acres of farmland on his twenty-first birthday. He began building the first structure, a small home, on this site in 1874. In 1882 contractor Charley Florrer built a T-plan house about six feet east of the original structure. The new house was of clapboard construction with square nails. In 1886, a kitchen room was added, altering the building to a cruciform floor plan. The striking central tower is an example of the Victorian features of the home, which include the steeply pitched overhanging roof and prominent porches. Other structures were added to the farmstead, on which Stephen D. Lawrence and his first wife Louisa E. Porter (1861-1891) reared three surviving children. Charley Florrer built the barn in 1887; other structures erected just north of the main house included a smokehouse, a brick-lined root cellar, and the wash house. The Lawrence Farmstead complex is representative of the evolution of domestic buildings from the 1870s to the late twentieth century on the North Texas plains and blackland prairie. S. D. Lawrence married his second wife, Louisa Hill Walker (1867-1948), and they reared their eight children here. Members of the prominent Lawrence family lived on the land until 1995, when 13.7 acres including the family complex became a city historical park according to the wishes of one of Stephen and Louisa's daughters. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1998