W. H. Janes Home

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, in my own words. Now, out here in McLennan County, not every old house has a story worth pullin' over for. But some do.

This one does. We're talkin' about a board and batten house, constructed in 1885, sittin' up on a foundation of oak and cedar blocks, overlookin' Tehuacana Creek. The man who built it was W.

H. Janes, a Kentucky native, born in 1841, and by his side was his wife Sue, née Webb, who would live until 1929. Before W.

H. Janes ever drove a nail into this place, he had already lived through the Civil War. He came out a veteran.

And what do you do after a war like that? You build something. You put down roots.

So that's what he did, out here in Texas, workin' as a rancher, workin' as a businessman. Then in 1898, the people of McLennan County elected him county commissioner. One term.

He served it. Now, the house overlooking Tehuacana Creek wasn't the end of the road for Janes. In 1902, he packed up and moved to Leroy, just two miles to the west.

And here's where the story picks up one more thread: he didn't just settle into quiet retirement out there. He established a bank. With his son, D.

T. Janes. A father and son, building something together in a town two miles down the road from the place the father built with his own hands back in 1885.

That old board and batten house is still standin'. Still restin' on those oak and cedar blocks, right there above Tehuacana Creek. Some foundations, it turns out, hold.

What the marker says

This board and batten house was constructed in 1885 by Kentucky native W.H. Janes (b. 1841) and his wife Sue (Webb) (d. 1929). A veteran of the Civil War, Janes worked as a rancher and businessman, and was elected to one term as county commissioner in 1898. He moved to Leroy (2 mi. W) in 1902 and later established a bank there with his son D. T. Janes. Built overlooking Tehuacana Creek, this home rests on a foundation of oak and cedar blocks.