William Clark Residence

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the William Clark Residence in Marion County. Now settle in, because this house has got layers, and I mean that literally. The back of this house, the oldest part, two rooms tucked away like they're keeping a secret, those are believed to have been built before 1852.

And the man believed to have built them was Allen Urquhart, born in 1792, died in 1866, and known to history as the founder of Jefferson. So right away you're standing in the shadow of somebody who put a whole town on the map. That's a foundation worth noting, in more ways than one.

But the house doesn't stop there. Come around to the front and you'll find three more rooms, added on and joined to that older structure by a man named William Clark. Clark was born in 1848, and he bought this house in 1885.

He was a local merchant, a Presbyterian, and a man who apparently could not sit still when it came to civic duty. Postmaster. County judge.

And then, in 1901, he rose to become the Grand Master of the Masonic Lodge in Texas. The Grand Master. Of all of Texas.

Not bad for a fellow running a merchant operation in Marion County. And here's the detail that quietly lands the whole story: William Clark didn't just buy this house and move along. He lived here for forty-three years.

He died in 1928, and those walls, the old two rooms in the back that Allen Urquhart is believed to have raised before 1852, they were still standing around him. Two men, two eras, one house. That's the William Clark Residence.

What the marker says

The original two rooms of this house, located in the back, are believed to have been built before 1852 by Jefferson's founder Allen Urquhart (1792-1866). Three rooms, constructed in the front, were joined to the earlier structure by William Clark (1848-1928), a local merchant who bought the house in 1885. A Presbyterian, Clark served as postmaster and county judge and in 1901 became the Grand Master of the Masonic Lodge in Texas. He lived here for 43 years. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1981