DUANE
Duane's take
Here's the story as the official marker tells it — and it's a good one. William Joseph Rogers built this residence after he purchased a 137-acre farm right here in 1901. Now, Rogers put up something to match the land — a three-story Queen Anne style frame structure.
Three stories. Queen Anne style. That's not a farmhouse, folks, that's a statement.
For a while, that was the shape of things out here. Then time moved on, the farm got subdivided, and in 1925, a new man came into the picture. W.
Lee O'Daniel — and if you know Texas, you already felt that name land somewhere in your chest. O'Daniel had come to Fort Worth as sales manager for Burrus Mills, and somewhere between the flour and the radio waves, he sponsored a little outfit called the Light Crust Doughboys. He took that original three-story Queen Anne structure and remodeled it — made it his own.
Now here's where the story gets almost too Texas to believe. The man living in this house went on to win election as Governor of Texas, serving from 1939 to 1941. Governor.
And if that weren't enough, he kept right on rising — serving as a United States Senator from 1941 to 1949. He sold this very property in 1945, while he was still sitting in the Senate. W.
Lee 'Pappy' O'Daniel, born 1890, died 1969 — and for a stretch of years that most men could only dream about, he ran the state and walked the halls of the nation's capital, all while this house held the memory of where some of that story began.
What the marker says
William Joseph Rogers built this residence after purchasing a 137-acre farm here in 1901. Originally a three-story, Queen Anne style frame structure, it was remodeled by W. Lee "Pappy" O'Daniel (1890-1969) in 1925, after the farm was subdivided. O'Daniel had moved to Fort Worth as sales manager for Burrus Mills. He sponsored the Light Crust Doughboys, won election as Governor of Texas, 1939-1941, and sold this property in 1945 while serving as U.S. Senator, 1941-1949.