Thrash-Landers-Hiner House

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Thrash-Landers-Hiner House in Hood County. Now settle in, because this one house saw more Texas than most streets ever do. Patrick H.

Thrash came into this world in North Carolina back in 1832, and by 1872 he'd packed up his family and pointed them toward this very stretch of Hood County. Now, Thrash wasn't just any settler passing through; the man became Granbury's first mayor. First one.

Ever. And right around 1880, he put up a one-story frame home right here on this ground. Nothing fancy to look at yet, but give it time.

Give it time. By 1899, the property changed hands to a fellow named George W. Landers, and here's where it gets interesting: Landers ran a downtown saloon.

A saloon owner holding the deed to the mayor's old homestead. Only in Texas. But Landers didn't hold it long.

Come 1903, he sold the place to John J. Hiner, the district attorney. The law had arrived.

Now John Hiner wasn't the only Hiner with an eye on this property. His brother, Thomas H. Hiner, who happened to be the Hood County sheriff, acquired it in 1915.

So you had the D.A. and then the sheriff, both calling this place home at different points; brothers in blood and in badge. And somewhere between 1905 and 1910, that modest one-story frame got itself transformed into a Queen Anne style house, enlarged into the shape it wears to this day. One plot of Hood County ground, three families, two lawmen, one saloon owner, and a mayor who started it all.

That's not just a house; that's a neighborhood's worth of Texas history standing on a single foundation.

What the marker says

North Carolina native Patrick H. Thrash (1832-1921) moved his family to this area in 1872. Thrash, Granbury's first mayor, built a one story frame home here about 1880. Downtown saloon owner George W. Landers purchased the property in 1899, then sold it to district attorney John J. Hiner in 1903. Hiner's brother, Hood county sheriff Thomas H. Hiner, acquired the property in 1915. This Queen Anne style frame house was enlarged to its current appearance between 1905 and 1910.