Waggoner-Scarborough Home

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll pass it along just the same. Now, some houses are just four walls and a roof. And then some houses carry a whole community inside them.

The Waggoner-Scarborough Home in Jasper County is that second kind. In 1927, salesman J. T.

Waggoner, Jr. and his wife Sadie built this residence, and right from the start it was more than a family address. J. T. was born in 1860, Sadie in 1870, and the two of them put down roots here in a house that would outlast the both of them.

J. T. passed in 1942, Sadie in 1955. But the house, it kept going.

Now, the marker is careful to say this place is closely associated with Mrs. Waggoner specifically, and that tells you something. Sadie Scarborough Waggoner was a civic leader and a longtime Jasper County school teacher, and the community loved her enough to give her a name that stuck, "Miss Sadie." That's the kind of name you earn over years of showing up, grading papers, and caring about a place.

When Miss Sadie was gone, the house passed to her brother, Philip Edgar Scarborough, a local businessman born in 1883 who held onto the property until his own passing in 1965. Same family, same walls, same fanlights catching the morning light. And those details matter, because architecturally this house is something to look at.

It carries the influences of colonial revival and bungalow styling together, which is not as common as you might think. Fanlights above the openings, bracketed eaves along the roofline, elliptical arches giving the whole structure a graceful, considered look. Somebody thought hard about how this house ought to present itself to the world.

In Jasper County, that house still stands, and it still carries Miss Sadie's name. Not bad for a schoolteacher.

What the marker says

Salesman J. T. Waggoner, Jr. (1860-1942) and his wife Sadie (Scarborough) (1870-1955) built this residence in 1927. It is closely associated with Mrs. Waggoner, a civic leader and longtime Jasper County school teacher affectionately known as "Miss Sadie." It was later owned by her brother, local businessman Philip Edgar Scarborough (1883-1965). The house reflects influences of colonial revival and bungalow styling and features fanlights, bracketed eaves, and elliptical arches. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1986