Thomas House

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Thomas House in Palo Pinto County. Now settle in, because this one's got ranching, oil, and a house built to last. The Thomas House was designed by Dallas architect Thomas J.

Galbraith and completed in 1919, and right away you can see this wasn't any ordinary ranch house someone threw up in a hurry. It stands as what the marker calls an excellent regional example of the prairie school style of architecture. Wide, projecting eaves stretch out from the roofline, pulling your eye horizontal, low and deliberate, the way a West Texas horizon does.

The roof is red metal. The walls lean heavy on concrete. And that heating system, well, it was designed to burn coal from the mines right over in Thurber.

Every detail of this place was chosen with intention. Now, the man who built it, Rancher Randal Burton Thomas, Sr., born in 1886, grew up in West Texas helping his mother, Mary Ellen Satterfield Thomas, run her family ranch. Their family had first arrived in Strawn from Bowling Green, Kentucky, by 1881, right around the time railroads were beginning to reach that part of the state.

That put them among the region's first settlers. And then, in 1917, everything changed. That was the year the Ranger Oil Boom began, touched off by a well called McClesky No. 1.

The producing wells on the Thomas family's properties brought new wealth, and when Randal Thomas started making plans to move into town, he didn't just build a house. He built a home with two households under one roof, living quarters for his own family on the north side, and separate quarters for Mary Ellen Satterfield Thomas on the south side. They lived there until their deaths.

Randal Thomas passed in 1969. And here's the part that lands a little differently when you're standing in front of a house this old. At the turn of the twenty-first century, the Thomas House was still in the Thomas family.

Prairie style architecture, West Texas ranching, the Ranger Oil Boom, all of it holding together under that red metal roof. Some houses just refuse to let go of their story.

What the marker says

Thomas House Designed by Dallas architect Thomas J. Galbraith and completed in 1919, this house is an excellent regional example of the prairie school style of architecture. Its strong historical associations with area ranches and with the Ranger Oil Boom lend additional significance to its place in the architectural history of Palo Pinto County. Rancher Randal Burton Thomas, Sr. (1886-1969), grew up in West Texas assisting his mother, Mary Ellen Satterfield Thomas, in running her family ranch. Having first arrived in Strawn from Bowling Green, Kentucky, by 1881, when railroads began to reach this area, their family was among the region's first settlers. The Ranger Oil Boom, begun in 1917 with McClesky No. 1 Well, brought new wealth to the family from the many producing wells on their properties. When Thomas began making plans to move into town, he designed this house with living quarters for his family on the north side and for Mary Ellen Satterfield Thomas on the south side. It remained their home until their deaths. The Thomas House features strong elements of the Prairie Style, with its horizontality enhanced by the use of wide, projecting eaves. Designed to be heated with coal from the nearby mines in Thurber, the house features extensive use of concrete and a red metal roof. Still in the Thomas family at the turn of the 21st century, the house is an important reminder of West Texas history and culture. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2002