Pioneer Cottage

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Pioneer Cottage out in Gray County. Now, before we even get to the fire, and oh, there is a fire, let's start at the beginning. The year is 1903, one year after Gray County itself was organized, and settlers Wiley Vincent and his wife Katie are putting up a cabin.

Small, two rooms, the kind of place that asks something of the people living in it. But they built it, and it stood. Fast forward to 1907, and a huge prairie fire comes rolling across that open Texas country.

It missed the cabin by only six hundred yards. Six hundred yards. On open prairie, that is not a comfortable margin.

That is a held breath and a whole lot of luck. The cabin endured. Then in 1920, a man named E.

S. Carr, who had served as mayor of Pampa, first during 1917 and 1918, and then again from 1938 to 1940, he bought the cabin. And here's where the story folds back on itself in the most satisfying way: Carr gave that little two-room cabin as a wedding present to his daughter Edna and her husband Clifford Vincent.

Clifford Vincent, a son of the very builders, Wiley and Katie, who put the thing up in 1903. So the cabin came home, in a manner of speaking. In 1963, the Cliff Vincents gave the cabin to the Pampa Genealogical and Historical Society to be used as a museum.

It's been furnished with period pieces and restored to its original appearance. Two rooms. Built to last.

Turns out, it was.

What the marker says

Built in 1903, one year after county was organized, by settlers Wiley Vincent and wife Katie. This small early Texas cabin has 2 rooms. In 1907, huge prairie fire missed it by only 600 yards. The cabin was bought in 1920 by E. S. Carr, Pampa mayor, 1917-1918 and 1938-1940. He gave it as a wedding present to daughter Edna and her husband Clifford Vincent, a son of the builders. In 1963, the Cliff Vincents gave the cabin for use as a museum to the Pampa Genealogical and Historical Society. It has been furnished with period pieces and restored to original appearance. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1970.