Simmons-Maxwell House

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Simmons-Maxwell House in Denton County. Now, some houses just sit there. This one has stories stacked in every room like good firewood, so let's get into it.

In 1915, a prominent civic leader named James W. Simmons and his wife, Susan S. Gregg, built themselves something worth remembering.

Arts and Crafts Mission Style, the marker calls it, and you can picture what that means: stucco walls, an open floor plan, a sunroom, pocket doors, a Mission-Style parapet, a hemlock front door, and leaded glass windows catching the light just so. Now Susan wasn't just anybody. She was the granddaughter of Darius Gregg, a Denton County pioneer and the founder of Gregg Ranch.

That heritage, the marker tells us, is right there in the design of the house itself. The open, breathing layout carries something of the Greggs' story forward in wood and plaster and glass. Then comes 1948, and the home changes hands.

Colonel F.W. Maxwell and his wife, Alice Louise Maxwell, purchase the place. The Colonel was a decorated veteran of both World War One and World War Two, and here's where the weight of that really settles in.

He was wounded in the Battle of the Bulge. That's not a footnote. That's a man who carried something home with him that no floor plan could hold.

And Louise, she had her own record of service. From 1918 all the way through 1958, she volunteered with the American Red Cross, and she didn't just show up. She received the top service award they had to give.

Two people, one house, decades of quiet and not-so-quiet courage living right there inside those stucco walls. The Simmons-Maxwell House. Built in 1915, still standing, still carrying every name that matters.

What the marker says

This Arts and Crafts Mission Style home was built in 1915 by prominent civic leader, James W. Simmons, and his wife, Susan S. Gregg, granddaughter of Darius Gregg, Denton County pioneer and founder of Gregg Ranch. Reminiscent of the Greggs' heritage, the house is designed with an open floor plan, stucco walls, sunroom, pocket doors, a Mission-Style parapet, hemlock front door and leaded glass windows. Col. F.W. and Alice "Louise" Maxwell purchased the home in 1948. Col. Maxwell, wounded in the Battle of the Bulge, was a decorated veteran of WWI and WWII. Louise received the top service award from the American Red Cross for volunteer work from 1918-1958. RECORDED TEXAS HISTORIC LANDMARK - 2016