Tom Hill House

Duane's take

The way I tell it, I'm drawing straight from the official marker on this one, so let's see what it says about a house that's been standing in Cleveland, Texas, for over a century now. The Tom Hill House. Completed in 1923, built for a man named Thomas Coleman Hill, and his wife Aileene, who clearly had an eye for something that would last.

And last it did. Thomas Coleman Hill, born in 1883 and not leaving this world until 1976, was by all accounts a man who kept himself busy in the best possible way. Well-respected in Cleveland, the marker says, and you don't have to read too far between the lines to understand why.

He owned a general store and an insurance agency. He served three terms on the city council. He was a director of Farmers State Bank.

And if that wasn't enough, he was a lay leader of First United Methodist Church. Three terms. A bank.

A store. A church. Some folks plant roots, and Tom Hill, well, he practically became the soil.

Now the house itself is a front-gabled bungalow, Craftsman style, and the details are worth slowing down for. Triangular and curved brackets. Paired double-hung windows.

Tongue and grooved siding. A deep overhanging front porch, the kind that says come sit a while. A modified rectangular plan that somehow manages to feel both sturdy and inviting all at once.

In 1975, George G. and Ann W. Silva purchased the property, and it stayed in the Silva family all the way until 2005. That's the kind of house that holds onto people, and the kind of story where the building itself becomes part of the biography.

Tom Hill built a life in Cleveland, and somewhere right in the middle of that life, he built a house that's still telling you about it.

What the marker says

Completed in 1923, this house was owned by Thomas Coleman Hill (1883-1976) and his wife, Aileene. Tom Hill was a well-respected leader in Cleveland and owned a general store and insurance agency. He also served three terms on the city council, as director of Farmers State Bank, and as a lay leader of First United Methodist Church. George G. and Ann W. Silva purchased the property in 1975, and it remained in the family until 2005. The front-gabled bungalow features a modified rectangular plan and a deep overhanging front porch. Craftsman style details include triangular and curved brackets, paired double-hung windows and tongue and grooved siding.