Starr Family Home Historic Site, Marshall, Texas

Recently, we traveled to the East Texas town of Marshall and we visited this historic site. The Texas Historical Commission runs the museum and they do a great job. We were there on a Wednesday in January so we had the place to ourselves, which was great! Normally, they have a lot of tours for school kids. It's $5 a person to enter and well worth it.

This is the Starr Family Home and Historic Site. The house was built in 1870 by Frank and Clara Starr. Frank was the son of James Harper Starr who owned a land business called James H. Starr and sons. He basically bought and sold land and assisted the railroad companies in acquiring the land they needed to expand across the state. Clara was the daughter of George and Sarah Clapp. 

Signs around the house describe the family, the living situations and the lifestyle of the family. Both Frank and Clara's families contributed to the building of the house. Frank's father gave him the land and Clara's father provided the funds to build the house. Of course, that meant that Frank didn't exactly have free reign to make decisions. Clara's father, George, encouraged him to build a large, lavish house whereas Frank wanted something more modest. Maplecroft was the compromise on that front.

The house has it's own historical marker.

When you walk in the front door, this is what you see. It's the downstairs hallway. Today, that's all it would be, a hallway. It would connect various rooms together.  But back then, it was used as an informal parlor. As there was no air conditioning in 1870, the family would open both the front and back doors to catch the breeze and cool the house. To the left is the formal parlor and to the right is the Gallery/Gift Shop, which was originally, the master bedroom of Frank and Clara.

The floor covering looks like linoleum but it's not. It is painted canvas floor cloth and it is both decorative and practical. It's very durable for high traffic areas as well as being waterproof, insect proof and easily cleaned.

Our first stop is the parlor, which for most families of the time is the fanciest room in the house. This is where the guests were entertained so the family would want to pay special attention to the room. My personal thought is that it's very crowded.

One of the things the Starr family had was a square grand piano. This particular piano wasn't theirs but it's similar to what they had. I'd never heard of a square grand piano but it's nice. The painting on the wall is of George Clapp, Clara's father. 

Passing through the doorway by the piano takes you into the next room, which is the dining room. It's very formal and where the family would have dinner or entertain guests. I thought the room was a little small for all the furniture. Also, the Starr family had ten children so if they were having guests, I'm not sure where they would sit, unless the table expanded, and maybe it did. 

The open door leads to a breezeway that leads to the kitchen. The door behind that leads to a butler's pantry where they would store dishes, glasses, etc.

The portrait on the wall is of Lily Starr. She was the second child of Frank and Clara. She died when she was only 2 years old.

This is the sideboard that is in the dining room. It looks more like a dresser because of the mirror but it's a lovely piece of furniture.

Through that open door is the breezeway to the kitchen. Originally, this little hallway was not enclosed. So the cook would have had to bring the food from the indoor kitchen along this open breezeway (in the winter and the hot summer) and come back inside to deliver the food to the dining room. A lot of opening and closing doors and, I would think, allowing insects to come into the house. In 1874, they enclosed the breezeway, which I'm sure made things much easier for everyone.

Another added benefit was that they could use that passageway for storage.

This is the kitchen where all meals were prepared. This would be where the staff would have their meals as well as the smaller children. The stove is an 1889 Grand Quaker made by Tauton Iron Works. It looks small. I can't imagine trying to prepare for a dinner party on that tiny stove but it was done. It's not the one that was owned by the family but one that is similar in size.

The cook, one of many, lived on site. She had her own room that was off the back porch, which meant that she had to leave her room, go outside, and then go into the kitchen. Having said that, at least it was her very own space.

Often, the cook had other duties outside the kitchen such as light mending, minding the children and helping in the garden.

Check out the sewing machine. You'd have to be pretty coordinated to work the foot pedal but it would certainly be easier than doing the mending by hand. A lot of times, the cook would have family that she was supporting. Perhaps parents or a husband that she would send her wages to.

This is the screened in porch. I love it but I noticed there were no chairs or anything for the residents to sit outside and enjoy the sunshine.

Another view of the screened in porch. That window is the cooks quarters that we just looked at. So she'd come out of the kitchen, onto the screened in porch and then into her room. She could also get into the back yard from her room as well.

Back inside, this is the servant's staircase. It's hidden at the back end of the downstairs hallway. It comes out on the second floor in a little alcove in front of the teacher's room.

Also in the back part of the downstairs hallway is this stove which would have kept the room warm in the winter.

Notice the chairs by that back door. As noted earlier, this downstairs hallway was also used as an informal parlor. Doors open in the summer to catch the breeze, the stove used in the winter to keep things warm.

Now, we're upstairs on the second floor. Note the bookcases. They were lettered. The books would then have a number which would determine it's place and then a letter to determine which bookshelf it went in. Clever, no? Hopefully, they had some kind of card catalog to help them find what they were looking for. The portrait on the wall there is of Harriett Johnson Starr, Frank's mother.

This is the teacher's room. It's at the top of the stairs to the right. All the kids were taught at home. In 1889, Frank hired Mary Grace Stone as the teacher. She was paid $45 a month with room, board and laundry. They held class year round, including in the summer. Note the chamber pot under the bed.

Stepping through the bedroom is this bathroom/powder room. 

Connected to the powder room used by the teacher, Miss Stone, is the girls room. There were ten children, six of whom lived past infancy and all were girls. Clara, Sallie, Harriet, Pamela, Ruth and Mary all survived. Lily, James Franklin, James Harper and Belle did not. Apparently all the girls shared a room.

A photo of Pamela, Ruth and Harriet.

If you remember, when we first walked into the house, I mentioned that the gift shop had originally been the bedroom of Frank and Clara. Well, when Clara's mother moved in, Frank and Clara moved upstairs to this room. Next to the bed is a really small closet. I wonder where Frank kept his clothes.

Next to the master bedroom was this room, which was originally a nursery. Before Sarah moved in, the master bedroom described above was for Sarah's parents when they came to visit. This room was to be the dressing room. After George (Clara's father) died and they took the adjoining room as a bedroom, this became a nursery and eventually a bathroom.

Another view of the upstairs hallway.

When Clara's father died, they invited Sarah to move in with them. She agreed and they added this "east wing suite" to the house. Sarah had her own entrance and her own access to the back porch through what used to be her daughter's bedroom.

The room was quite large. It had a bed, a wardrobe, a little sitting area and a desk by the window so Sarah could look out as she wrote letters.

Here's the desk area set in a bay window.

Another view of the east wing. That door led to a bathroom.

From the backyard, the entrance to the screened in porch.

Remember that the girls were homeschooled? Well this was their schoolhouse. It's on the property. You couldn't go in, which was unfortunate. After the girls grew up, changes were made and it was used for other purposes.

In 1904, Ruth, the 7th child of Frank and Clara, married Arthur John Blake, a Canadian. Frank had this house built for them very close to the property where Maplecroft sat. In fact, when we were there, we saw a sign that said "to Blake House" and we could have walked over but we didn't realize it was part of the property.

The Starr family lived in their house for several generations until 1976 when it was deeded to the State of Texas. Obviously, changes were made during the family's time there. Bathrooms were installed, the kitchen was updated. The carriage house became a garage. 

Oddly, no central heat and air was added until after the Texas Historical Commission took it over. The family used window AC units. During the 1990s, the THC did a renovation that added central heat and air and restored all the rooms to the 1870. There's one remaining bathroom and that is in the office that is used by the docent from THC.

This place is really cool. It's a great place to go and close your eyes and just imagine what life was like during that time period. No cell phones, no television. Certainly a much simpler time. Ulysses S. Grant was president. The railroads were THE thing. 

What a great way to travel in time. If you have an opportunity, go and visit. It's awesome!