Robert A. Terrell Home

Duane's take

Here's what the official marker has to say, and I'll tell it the way I hear it. Robert A. Terrell came to this part of Texas early, we're talkin' 1845 early, when a man built his home out of logs because that's what the land gave you.

Terrell himself was born in 1820, and he settled here with the kind of conviction that gets a town named after you. That log cabin stood as his foothold in this place, and the town of Terrell grew up around the memory of the man who planted himself here. He wouldn't live to see 1881 from far off; that's when he passed; but long before that, something remarkable happened to his homestead.

In 1864, right in the thick of one of the hardest chapters in American history, somebody built Robert A. Terrell a new house. And not just any house.

An octagon. Eight sides. In Kaufman County, Texas.

Now I want you to sit with that for a second, because octagon-shaped houses are rare enough today, the marker tells us it's one of the few remaining in all of Texas. So whoever drew up those plans had a vision that didn't exactly follow the crowd. The house outlasted its original owner, as good houses tend to do.

By 1897 it had taken on a new kind of life altogether, falling in with a succession of schools over the years, among them Texas Military College and Southwestern Christian College, which pulled up stakes and moved right here in 1950. And that eight-sided structure? It didn't just sit pretty.

It worked. It served as home for college presidents, a dining hall, a classroom building, and a student union; sometimes, you get the feeling, maybe all at once. One building wearing that many hats is either very versatile or very tired.

Probably both. What started as a pioneer settler's log cabin became a landmark of education, of community, of sheer staying power. Robert A.

Terrell put his name on this town, and this house has been carrying the weight of history on all eight of its walls ever since.

What the marker says

This house replaced the 1845 log cabin of Robert A. Terrell (1820-1881), a pioneer settler for whom the town was named. Built for him in 1864, it is one of the few remaining octagon-shaped houses in Texas. Since 1897 it has been associated with a succession of schools, including Texas Military College and Southwestern Christian College, which moved here in 1950. It has served as home for college presidents, a dining hall, classroom building, and student union. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1962