Presiding Elder's House

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm passin' it along to you. Out in Ellis County, there's a house that has seen more than its share of holy men come and go. Built in 1901, it started life as the home of a Mrs.

M.J. Cooke, the woman for whom it was constructed. Now, Mrs.

Cooke didn't hold onto it long. Just one year later, in 1902, she sold it to the Methodist Conference, and from that moment on, this place had a purpose. It would serve as the parsonage for the presiding elder, the district superintendent, of the Waxahachie district of the Northwest Texas Conference of the Methodist Church.

That's a long title for a long responsibility. The first man to walk through that door in an official capacity was the Reverend O.F. Sensabaugh.

He was the first of thirteen church officials who would call this house home, one after another, across more than forty years of ministry. Thirteen men. More than forty years.

And the house itself? It's no plain rectangle sitting on a lot. It carries late Victorian-era detailing in its porch, its windows, and its gables, the kind of craftsmanship that says whoever built it understood that a place of dignity ought to look the part.

Thirteen presiding elders came and went through those doors. The house is still standing. Make of that what you will.

What the marker says

Built in 1901, this house served as the parsonage for the presiding elder (district superintendent) of the Waxahachie district of the Northwest Texas Conference of the Methodist Church for more than 40 years. Mrs. M.J. Cooke, for whom the house was built, sold it to the Methodist Conference in 1902. The Rev. O.F. Sensabaugh was the first of 13 church officials to reside in the house, which features late Victorian - era detailing in its porch, windows and gables.