The Darst-Yoder House

Duane's take

The marker's the one telling this tale, and I'm just passing it along the way Duane does. Now, Fort Bend County has seen some houses come and go, but every so often a place plants itself in the ground like it means to outlast everything around it. The Darst-Yoder House is exactly that kind of place.

R. H. Darst built it in 1908.

Fourteen rooms. Cypress and pine. Eleven-foot ceilings reaching up like the man had room to spare, four fireplaces to push back whatever a Texas winter thought it could do.

Classical revival, the style is called, and it carries that name honestly. This was not a house you put up quick and forgot about. Now, who was R.

H. Darst? Born in 1859, passed in 1938, and the bloodlines on this man are worth a moment of your time.

His grandfather was an 1829 Texas pioneer. And on top of that, Darst was a direct descendant of Daniel Boone. You can let that settle.

He and his wife Pearle, Pearle Ransom that was, they raised three sons inside those fourteen rooms. They kept open house, which in that era meant the door was genuinely open, neighbors welcome, strangers fed, no appointment required. And they lived to old age in that place.

Mrs. Darst made it to ninety-four. Here is the detail that'll stay with you.

By 1976, that house stood virtually unchanged in sixty-eight years. The city around it shifted and grew, fortunes rose and fell across Fort Bend County, and that cypress-and-pine structure just kept standing, reflecting, as the marker puts it, the stability of both a city and a family. Since 1971, the house has belonged to Mr. and Mrs.

Nelson Yoder, and their name is in the title now, right alongside Darst's. Some houses are just walls and a roof. And then some houses are a statement.

The Darst-Yoder House has been making its statement since 1908, and by all accounts it is not finished yet.

What the marker says

This 14-room classical revival structure of cypress and pine has 11-foot ceilings, four fireplaces; built in 1908 by R. H. Darst (1859-1938), grandson of an 1829 Texas pioneer, direct descendant of Daniel Boone. Here Darst and his wife Pearle (Ransom) reared three sons, kept open house, lived to old age -- Mrs. Darst surviving to 94. Virtually unchanged in 68 years, reflecting stability of city and family, the house has been owned since 1971 by Mr. and Mrs. Nelson Yoder. RTHL - 1976