The Howell-Linscomb Home

Duane's take

Here's how the marker at the Howell-Linscomb Home tells it, and here's my telling of that telling. Daniel Webster Howell was a carpenter and contractor, and if you're going to build something to last, well, there's something to be said for a man who does it with his own two hands and his own professional eye. Between 1900 and 1903, Howell raised up a two-story galleried residence right here in Orange, Texas.

He built it for his wife Amanda, born Sellers, and their ten children. Ten. That's not a household, that's a small municipality.

And he gave them something worth coming home to: an ornate Victorian home dressed up in intricate gingerbread detailing, the kind of woodwork that makes you stop on the sidewalk and just look. A carpenter showing off a little. You can't blame him.

Daniel was born in 1855, Amanda in 1857, and together they filled that house with family and years. Then in 1918, they sold it. The new owners were Milam L.

Linscomb, a local barber, and his wife Sletia. The Linscombs moved in with their two children and stayed on through 1927. Two families, one house, and all of it woven into the early days of Orange growing into a lumber center.

The gingerbread's still there. Some things, if you build them right, just refuse to go away.

What the marker says

Daniel Webster Howell (1855-1930), a carpenter and contractor, built this two-story galleried residence in 1900-03 for his wife Amanda (Sellers) (1857-1924) and their ten children. In 1918 they sold the house to Milam L. Linscomb, a local barber, and his wife Sletia. They resided here with their two children until 1927. Representative of the early days of Orange's growth as a lumber center, the ornate Victorian home features intricate gingerbread detailing. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1981