The Thompson House

Duane's take

Here's how the marker on The Thompson House tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. A land developer by the name of S. S.

Evants built this home in 1906. One year. That's all it took before Alex Thompson came along in 1907 and bought the place.

Then, just a year after that, he turned around and sold it to his mother, Jennie Thompson. Now, you might wonder what kind of son sells his mother a house. The kind who then moves right back in, that's what kind.

Alex, his wife Audrey, and their two daughters set up under the same roof as Jennie and her sister Jessie Morris. One house, two generations, and a whole lot of life about to happen inside those walls. The neighbors, they came to know the two older women as Aunt Jennie and Aunt Jessie.

And those names carried weight. Because Aunt Jennie and Aunt Jessie weren't just family. They nursed patients.

They helped deliver babies. Right there in that home. They kept on doing it until a hospital was finally erected in 1924.

Think about that for a moment. Births, sickness, recovery, all of it happening in a family house. And the Thompson home didn't stop there.

District judges came through and boarded here. Court reporters. Students.

Baptist preachers and singers. That front door must have swung open more times in a week than most doors do in a year. The Thompson family, the marker makes clear, were leaders in church and community affairs.

So when you drive past a house and wonder what it's seen, well. Sometimes the walls remember a lot more than the quiet street outside would ever let on.

What the marker says

Land developer S. S. Evants built this home in 1906. The following year Alex Thompson (1883-1956) bought the house and then sold it to his mother Jennie Thompson in 1908. Thompson, his wife Audrey (Argo), and their two daughters lived here with his mother and her sister Jessie Morris. "Aunt Jennie" and "Aunt Jessie" nursed patients and helped deliver babies in this home until a hospital was erected in 1924. District judges, court reporters, students, Baptist preachers and singers boarded here. The Thompson family were leaders in church and community affairs. (1979)