The Sturgis House

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll pass it along just the way it was meant to be heard. Now, in McLennan County, there stands a house that has been standing since 1887, and the first thing you need to understand is that nobody cut corners when they built this place. James N.

Harris put it up in a refined Victorian style, and he didn't go looking far for his materials. The bricks, every single one of them, were handmade from Brazos River sand. Every.

Single. One. And those bricks aren't just stacked up for show.

The walls are thirteen inches thick, solid, with interior plaster applied directly to them. Not hung, not framed out. Directly applied.

The kind of construction that makes you think the builder was expecting trouble and decided the house would outlast it. The roof you see today, that is the original roof. In a house built in 1887, that is worth saying twice.

Then comes 1912, and Mr. and Mrs. James H. Sturgis buy the place.

They move in, and they raise three children inside those thirteen-inch walls. James, Jr., Carroll W., and Anna Elizabeth all grew up in this house, learned its sounds, knew which floorboards to trust. And here is where the story closes the loop in a way that would satisfy any campfire crowd.

The house is now preserved by Mr. and Mrs. Carroll W. Sturgis.

One of those children who was brought up here never really left. The Brazos River sand stayed, the original roof stayed, and so did the family.

What the marker says

Built 1887 by James N. Harris in a refined Victorian style. Bricks handmade from Brazos River sand are used throughout entire structure and servant's quarters. Walls are 13-inch, solid, with interior plaster directly applied. Roof is the original. Bought 1912 by Mr. and Mrs. James H. Sturgis, whose children James, Jr., Carroll W., and Anna Elizabeth were brought up here. Structure is now preserved by Mr. and Mrs. Carroll W. Sturgis.