Mathews - Powell House

Duane's take

The way the official marker tells it, here's the story of the Mathews-Powell House in Cass County. Now settle in, because this old Victorian has seen more than a few chapters. The house went up in 1878, built by William Franklin Mathews and his wife Harriet India Sharp.

Mathews was a Confederate veteran and a farmer, and when Queen City was founded in 1877, he was right there, moving in almost before the dust had settled. He became a successful merchant in that young town, and he put up a Victorian residence that said as much. Born in 1840, Mathews passed in 1900, and after 1895 the house changed hands a time or two, passing briefly through various owners the way old houses sometimes do, like it was waiting for the right family to come along and hold on.

That family came in 1918. Ross A. Powell and his wife Gussie Boyd bought the place.

Now here is a thing worth noticin'. Like Mathews before him, Powell was a merchant. Two merchants, two eras, one house.

Gussie Boyd Powell did not live long after that purchase. She passed in 1920. Ross Powell himself was born in 1883 and died in 1937.

But the house, that Victorian frame standing proud in Queen City, it kept going. And here is where the story lands soft and sure: to this day, the structure is still owned and preserved by a Powell heir. Not sold off, not lost, not forgotten.

Just kept. Some houses hold families, and some families hold houses. This one, it seems, found the kind that does both.

What the marker says

Victorian residence built 1878 by William Franklin Mathews (1840-1900) and wife Harriet India Sharp. Mathews, a Confederate veteran and farmer, moved to Queen City when it was founded (1877) and became a successful merchant. Briefly owned by various people after 1895, house was bought 1918 by Ross A. Powell (1883-1937) and wife Gussie Boyd (d. 1920). Like Mathews, Powell was a merchant. This structure is still owned and preserved by a Powell heir. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1973