Rye-Caperton House

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Rye-Caperton House. Now settle in, because this little building has lived more lives than most people dare to dream about. It was built in 1874, out at Fort Griffin, and right from the start it pulled double duty as an office building.

Five years later, in 1879, somebody made the decision to pick the whole thing up and move it here. Not tear it down, not start fresh. Move it.

That right there tells you something about how folks valued what they'd built. The man behind it at that point was Edgar Rye, and Edgar Rye was a piece of work in the best possible way. Newspaper publisher.

Cartoonist. And he held numerous elective offices, which means the people around him kept finding reasons to put him in charge of things. A man who draws pictures and writes the news and wins elections.

You don't run into that combination every day. Rye held onto the building until 1896, when he sold it to a woman named Anna F. Caperton.

Now Anna didn't just move in and call it done. She looked at that old office structure and she saw something she wanted to reshape. Between 1902 and 1906 she modified its appearance, turning it into a proper home.

Then in 1906 it sold again, and the building kept right on changing with the times. By the 1940s it had been converted to apartments. And then, after all of that, after being an office and a home and a collection of apartments across the better part of a century, it was restored as a single family dwelling in the 1990s.

One building, Fort Griffin to here, office to home to apartments to home again. Some stories end. This one just kept finding another chapter.

What the marker says

Built in 1874, and used as an office building, this structure was moved here in 1879 from Fort Griffin. Owner Edgar Rye was a newspaper publisher, cartoonist, and held numerous elective offices. Rye sold the building in 1896 to Anna F. Caperton, who modified its appearance in 1902-06, and used it as a home. Sold again in 1906, it was converted to apartments in the 1940s, and was restored as a single family dwelling in the 1990s. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1996