Whitis-Moore House

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, most folks rolling through San Saba don't slow down long enough to notice a house that's been quietly holding its own since nineteen oh five. But this one's got a story worth telling.

It starts, as a lot of good Texas stories do, with a banker. John H. Whitis, an Austin man with money on his mind, came to San Saba in nineteen oh five as co-founder and officer of First National Bank.

He didn't just wire instructions from a comfortable office back in Austin. He came himself, and he brought his family with him. Now, when you arrive in a new town and you haven't yet sorted out where you're going to sleep, you need a friend.

The Whitis family found one in Irene Clark, and they lived with her while they got their bearings. Then they bought a site, hired a builder by the name of A.T. McLellan, and by October of nineteen oh five, they had a home of their own.

Queen Anne styling, the marker tells us. Spindlework, turned posts, a hipped roof with cross gables. This was not a man building a shack.

Two years later, the Whitis family returned to Austin. And here is where the story takes a turn that I find quietly satisfying. Irene Clark, the very woman who had opened her home to the Whitis family when they first arrived, turned around and bought that house from them.

She later sold it to her daughter and son-in-law, Cornelia and Alex Enoch Moore. Cornelia had been a Clark before she was a Moore, so the house stayed in the family, in a manner of speaking. The Moores were active civically and in the Presbyterian Church, and they held onto that home until nineteen seventy-three.

A house built in nineteen oh five by a banker for his family, then passed to the woman who had sheltered that same family, then handed down to a daughter. Some houses just know how to stay in good hands.

What the marker says

In 1905, Austin banker John H. Whitis came to San Saba as co-founder and officer of First National Bank. His family lived with Irene Clark before buying this site. They hired A.T. McLellan to build their home, completed by October 1905. Two years later, when the Whitis family returned to Austin, clark bought the home. She later sold it to her daughter and son-in-law, Cornelia (Clark) and Alex Enoch Moore. The Moore family, active civicly and in the Presbyterian Church, owned the house until 1973. The home features Queen Anne styling, including spindlework, turned posts and hipped roof with cross gables.Recorded Texas Historic Landmark-2005