Old Blasingame Home

Duane's take

The way I tell it, I'm going by what the marker in Ochiltree County has to say. Now settle in, because this is a house story, and house stories in the Texas Panhandle have a way of surprising you. Around 1912, in the town of Ochiltree, somebody decided to do something ambitious.

Mrs. John Blasingame had a vision for a home, and she designed it herself. Not a plain box of boards, not a sod dugout, but a proper house drawing on 19th century English and German influence, out there on the high plains where the wind doesn't much care what you've built.

To bring that vision to life, a man named Sam Whittaker did the constructing. And the materials weren't just sitting around waiting. The lumber and the red brick had to be hauled in, all the way from Glazier.

Every plank, every brick, making that journey before a wall could go up. What Whittaker built, working from Mrs. Blasingame's design, was by any measure a luxurious home.

It had a full basement. It had an attic. It had heavy embossed picture moulding running through it.

But here's the part that stops you cold when you think about where this house was standing. The place contained intricate glass work, including two leaded stained glass windows of Bavarian design, set on the sides of the living room mantels. Bavarian design.

In Ochiltree, Texas. Around 1912. Now, buildings in the Panhandle have a way of either disappearing or enduring, and the Blasingame home had something in it worth keeping.

In 1961, the Willard McLarty family moved that house. Moved the whole thing, from Ochiltree to Perryton. Those Bavarian windows, that embossed moulding, that basement, making the trip.

Somewhere in Perryton today, if you know where to look, a house designed by Mrs. John Blasingame and built by Sam Whittaker out of brick and lumber hauled from Glazier is still standing. It traveled to get there, but then, most good things in Texas did.

What the marker says

Built about 1912 in Ochiltree. Designed by Mrs. John Blasingame; 19th century English, German influence. Constructed by Sam Whittaker; lumber and red brick hauled from Glazier. Luxurious home had attic, full basement. Heavy embossed picture moulding. Contained much intricate glass work - two leaded stained glass windows, of Bavarian design, on sides of living room mantels. Was moved to Perryton, 1961, by the Willard McLarty family. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1967