The Breeden House

Duane's take

The way I tell it, I'm followin' the official marker on the Breeden House in DeWitt County, and this one's got layers, just like the house itself. Stick with me. It starts in 1883, when a man named Walter Kibbe Breeden broke ground on what was meant to be a modest one-story dwelling.

Walter was born in 1858, his wife Margaret, née Pleasants, in 1863, and together they set down roots in a home that had no idea yet what it was going to become. Now, Walter wasn't a man who stood still. In 1889, he and his brother Charles went into business together, founding Breeden Brothers.

Well-known mercantile company and cotton factors, the marker says, and that phrase, cotton factors, carries some real weight to it. These were men who moved goods and moved money and made a name doing both. Then there's the house itself.

A one-story home in 1883, and it stayed that way until 1907, when a second floor went up. Just like the family's standing, the house grew. A new floor, new rooms, a whole second chapter added right on top of the first.

And speaking of second chapters, there was a son. Paul Hamilton Breeden, born in 1886, born in that very house. Paul didn't wander far from what his father built.

He became a partner in the family business, and then a banker on top of that, and a civic leader besides. He married Henrietta Bess Philpott, born in 1889, and Paul himself lived until 1967, Henrietta until 1976. Their family became the third generation to occupy that home.

Think about that. One structure, begun in 1883, watched three generations come through the door. It started as one story, got itself a second floor, and kept right on standin'.

Some houses are just built with more future in them than they first let on.

What the marker says

This structure was begun in 1883 as a one-story dwelling for Walter Kibbe Breeden (1858-1931) and his wife Margaret (Pleasants) (1863-1936). In 1889 Breeden and his brother Charles founded Breeden brothers, well-known mercantile company and cotton factors. In 1907 a second floor was added to this residence. Breeden's only son Paul Hamilton (1886-1967), who was born in this house, was a partner in his father's business, as well as a banker and civic leader. He married Henrietta Bess Philpott (1889-1976). Their family became the third generation to occupy the home.