Thomas William House, Jr.

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker says about Thomas William House, Jr. Now settle in, because this is a story about a name that carried a whole lot of weight in Houston, and what it means to carry a name like that all the way to the end. T.

W. House, Jr., was born in 1846, the third of eight children. His father, Thomas William House, Sr., born in 1814, was an English immigrant who had already done something remarkable: he established the T.

W. House Bank in 1838, and he would go on to become mayor of Houston in 1862. That's the shadow young T.

W. Jr. grew up under. His mother, Mary Elizabeth Shearn House, born in 1822, rounded out a household that was, by any measure, one of the most consequential families in the city.

The boy got his schooling at the Houston Academy. And at age twenty-three, he married Ruth Nicholson, born in 1847. They had six children together and built their home at 1010 Louisiana, right in the heart of downtown Houston.

He served on the Houston City Council from 1880 to 1886. Then his father died, and T. W.

Jr. stepped up, first as director, then as sole proprietor of the T. W. House Bank.

He was also involved in running three Houston utility companies. He was, by all accounts, holding a lot in his hands. And then came 1907.

A national bank crisis hit, and the T. W. House Bank collapsed.

House filed for bankruptcy. The bank property was sold to the First National Bank of Houston. That name, that institution his father had built back in 1838, was gone.

Now here's where the story turns, and it doesn't turn the way you might expect. In 1913, President Woodrow Wilson appointed T. W.

House, Jr., to the office of Houston postmaster. The man who had lost a bank became the man who kept the mail moving. He served in that position, with his offices located right here on this very site, until 1922.

He died the following year, in 1923, and was buried in Glenwood Cemetery. And the T. W.

House Postal Station in Houston Heights was named in his honor. A bank collapses. A postmaster rises.

And a name finds its way onto a building after all.

What the marker says

(1846-1923) T. W. House, Jr., was the third of eight children born to Thomas William (1814-1880) and Mary Elizabeth (Shearn) (1822-1870) House. T.W. House, Sr., was an English immigrant who established the T.W. House Bank in 1838 and became mayor of Houston in 1862. The younger House received his education at the Houston Academy. At age 23 he married Ruth Nicholson (1847-1914); they had six children together, building a home at 1010 Louisiana in downtown Houston. House served on the Houston City Council from 1880 to 1886. Following his father's death, he became the director and then sole proprietor of the T. W. House Bank. In addition to managing the family business holdings, he was involved in the operation of three Houston utility companies. The T. W. House Bank collapsed during a national bank crisis in 1907. House filed for bankruptcy and the bank property was sold to the First National Bank of Houston. In 1913, President Woodrow Wilson appointed T. W. House, Jr., to the office of Houston postmaster. He served in that position, with his offices located on this site, until 1922. He died in 1923 and was buried in Glenwood Cemetery. The T. W. House Postal Station in Houston Heights was named in his honor. (1998)