DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Mounts House in Denton County. Now, some houses just sit there. Four walls, a roof, maybe a porch swing.
But every now and then you roll past a place that's been in the middle of things — really in the middle of things — for about as long as anyone can remember. The Mounts House is that kind of place. Let's start at the beginning, which in Texas almost always means Virginia.
The Mounts family came to Denton County in the 1850s, making the long haul west with everything they owned and everything they intended to build. And build they did. In 1857, a man named W.H.
Mounts — Robert's father — relocated his mercantile business from nearby Alton all the way to the west side of the town square, timing that move right alongside the shift of the Denton County Seat itself. W.H. had an eye for where things were headed. But here's the thing about the Mounts family — it wasn't just the men doing the heavy lifting.
Robert's mother, Mattie Haynes Mounts, established the first Sunday School in Denton back in 1868. And then, twenty-four years later in 1892, she opened the first kindergarten in Denton. One woman, two firsts, decades apart.
Some folks leave a mark. Mattie left two. Now Robert Noble Mounts — born in 1863 — he grew up in the shadow of all that family ambition, and it appears some of it rubbed off.
As a young man, he went to work at the Gregg Ranch, a spread of fifteen thousand acres and then some, sitting northwest of Denton. That is not a small piece of Texas. And when the ranch's owner, William Gregg, died in 1889, Robert didn't walk away.
He managed that ranch for many years after. The man had a gift for range and responsibility in equal measure. In 1898, Robert and his wife Nannie Lee — born Christal, in 1870 — built the house we're talking about right now.
It sat on land that was once part of the Mounts farm itself, ground that had produced cotton, fruit, and livestock. A working piece of earth holding up a proper family home. Then, just a year after the house went up, Robert and Nannie Mounts made another move.
In 1899, they headed to Hereford, Texas, out in the panhandle, where Robert owned a ranch of more than eighty-four thousand acres. Eighty-four thousand. That's not a ranch so much as a geography.
Out there he became a County Commissioner, a City Councilman, a Bank Director, and a Charter School Board Trustee — and he was counted among the foremost stockmen in the panhandle. The marker says he helped open Texas cattle markets to the north. That is a line that deserves a moment of quiet.
Nannie lived until 1942. Robert passed in 1922. Now the house itself — and this is a house worth describing — is a Queen Anne Victorian.
Clapboard siding, scrolled ornamentation, and that particular style of Eastlake lathe, gouge, and chisel work that craftsmen of the era treated like a calling. The signature diamond window is the visual focal point, the thing your eye goes to first and lingers on. Step inside and you've got heart-pine floors underfoot and wooden ornamentation throughout.
And that north wing? That was added on early, built out to make room when the Central Presbyterian Church used the home as a minister's manse from 1919 all the way to 1943. The house needed an office.
The house got an office. A farm. A mercantile.
A Sunday School and a kindergarten. Fifteen thousand acres managed, eighty-four thousand acres owned. A Queen Anne Victorian with a diamond window standing in Denton County to this day.
The Mounts family didn't just pass through Texas. They shaped a fair piece of it — and left this house behind as proof.
What the marker says
Robert Noble Mounts (1863-1922) and Nannie Lee (Christal) Mounts (1870-1942) built this home in 1898. The Mounts family came to Denton County in the 1850s from Virginia. In 1857, Robert Mounts’ father, W.H. Mounts, relocated his mercantile business from nearby Alton to the west side of the town square with the move of the Denton County Seat. Robert Mounts’ mother, Mattie (Haynes) Mounts, established the first Sunday School in Denton in 1868, and in 1892, opened the first kindergarten in Denton. This house sits on land once part of the mounts farm where they produced cotton, fruit, and livestock. Robert Mounts was important in furthering the ranching industry in Texas. As a young man, he worked at the 15,000+ acre Gregg Ranch northwest of Denton. After the death of Gregg Ranch owner, William Gregg, in 1889, mounts managed the ranch for many years. In 1899, Robert and Nannie Mounts moved to Hereford, Texas, where he owned a vast ranch consisting of 84,000+ acres and was a County Commissioner, City Councilman, Bank Director, and Charter School Board Trustee. He was one of the foremost stockmen in the panhandle and helped open Texas cattle markets to the north. This Queen Anne Victorian home features clapboard siding, scrolled ornamentation, and typical Eastlake lathe, gouge, and chisel work. The signature diamond window is a visual focal point. The interior features heart-pine floors and wooden ornamentation. The north wing was an early addition to the house, added to accommodate the office space needed when it was used by the Central Presbyterian Church as a minister’s manse from 1919-1943.