Moore House

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Moore House in Aransas County. Now settle in, because this one starts with a vision and ends with a legacy that's still very much alive on the Texas coast. The year is 1906, and James Edward Moore, goes by J.

Ed, and his wife Josephine Kennedy Moore are building something. Not just a house, mind you. A vision.

That's the word the marker uses, and I think they earned it. The two had married in 1903, and together they set their sights on a Craftsman bungalow that would turn heads for generations. A story and a half plan.

A low, overhanging roofline. A wrapped porch that just invites you to sit a while. Squared columns, an asymmetrical entryway, and up top, a roof dormer fitted with tripartite windows.

That's three windows grouped together, looking out over whatever Rockport had to offer in those early years of the twentieth century. Now, Josephine did not get to see all that J. Ed would become.

She passed away in 1915, twelve years into their marriage. That's a quiet kind of grief the marker doesn't dwell on, and neither will I, except to say it deserves acknowledging. J.

Ed kept going. He was a business owner, and somewhere between the nineteen twenties and the nineteen forties, he served several terms as Rockport's mayor. Several terms.

The man was not a one-and-done kind of leader. He helped establish a yacht basin and a public beach park, both of which, the marker takes care to point out, are still in use today. He also helped plan a modern sewer system for the town, which sounds less glamorous than a yacht basin, but any mayor worth the title knows the unglamorous work is half the job.

In 1943, J. Ed sold the house to family. He passed away in 1948.

The house is still standing. The beach park is still open. The yacht basin is still there.

Sometimes a vision outlasts the person who had it, and out here on the Texas coast, that's not a bad way to be remembered.

What the marker says

Built in 1906, this house was the vision of James Edward (J. Ed) and Josephine Kennedy Moore. The two were married from 1903 until 1915, when Josephine passed away. J. Ed was a business owner who served several terms as Rockport's mayor between the 1920s and 1940s. He was instrumental in establishing a yacht basin and a public beach park, both of which are still in use today. Moore also helped plan a modern sewer system for the town. He sold the house to family in 1943 and passed away in 1948. The Craftsman bungalow features a story and a half plan, a low, overhanging roofline and a wrapped porch. It also has squared columns, an asymmetrical entryway and a roof dormer with tripartite windows. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2006