Potton House

Duane's take

The official marker tells it this way, and I'm just the man passing it along. Now settle in, because this one's about a house that's got some real bones to it. Joseph Potton was born in England in 1847, and if you'd told that young man he'd one day raise a Victorian showpiece out of Pecos sandstone on the Texas plains, well, he might've believed you.

He had the eye for it. Potton came up as a master mechanic for the Texas and Pacific Railroad, the kind of man who understood how things fit together, how they're meant to last. And when he decided to build a home in 1901, he didn't just call a neighbor with a hammer.

He called on the Fort Worth firm of S. B. Haggart and Son.

Designers. Professionals. People with a plan.

What they drew up was a Victorian residence built of Pecos sandstone, with iron pillars holding things proud and zinc gable decorations catching the light up top. This was not a house that whispered. It spoke.

When Potton retired in 1912, he and his wife moved in proper, and that house became a place people were invited to. They entertained here, the two of them. Potton also served as a school board trustee, so this wasn't a man who kept his world small.

He left this one in 1920. And the house kept on. Their daughter, Mrs.

Henry R. Hayden, brought her own family to live within those sandstone walls, and the story of the Potton house stretched on past the man who built it. That's the thing about a well-made house.

You put enough craft into it, enough iron and stone and intention, and it outlasts just about everything else.

What the marker says

Joseph Potton (1847-1920), a native of England and master mechanic for Texas & Pacific Railroad, built this Victorian residence in 1901. Designed by the Fort Worth firm of S. B. Haggart and Son, the house was constructed of Pecos sandstone with iron pillars and zinc gable decorations. Potton, a school board trustee, and his wife occupied the home after he retired in 1912 and often entertained here. Later their daughter, Mrs. Henry R. Hayden, and her family resided here. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1976.