1886 Dr. Matlock House - 615 West Oak Street
Built in 1886 for Barbara and Dr. William Matlock, located at 615 West Oak Street.Most Denton pioneer families have been forgotten; a handful have gravesites in Denton. If they’re lucky, a building survives to mark their existence. This is that case.When 26-year-old William Matlock, a physician, married 20-year-old Barbara George in Blount, Tennessee, on Aug. 27, 1873, their wedding was a stylish celebration. Barbara and William married on a Wednesday because weekdays accommodated ministers’ busy schedules.By 1880, William and Barbara lived in Rockwood, Tennessee, with 5-year-old Lena and 4-year-old May. They moved to Denton by 1882. The couple bought a lot half a mile from Denton’s Square at 615 W. Oak St. and built their two-story house three years later.Little is known about William’s medical practice. The Fort Worth Daily Gazette covered his participation in the 1885 Denton Gun Club May Day shooting competition. William tied for fourth place with John Kirkwood; they each received 75 shells. First-place winner C.F. Witherspoon received a “sack of shot.” J.B. Schmitz won a fine-ground glass pitcher for second place. Third-place finishers Dr. J.R. Edwards and Dr. Cuvier Lipscomb each won 150 shells. Judge W.J. Austin placed last; his consolation prize was a “bag of wads.”Tragedy struck three years later when William became seriously ill. The Gainesville Daily Hesperian announced that his sister, Mrs. F.W. Gourley, whose husband was a doctor, came from Gainesville to help care for him.William died two years later in 1890 at age 42. During this time, Lena, the couple’s then 13-year-old daughter, also died. Lena and William are buried in the I.O.O.F. Cemetery. Typhoid fever, which was not well understood, was the most likely cause of death.After William’s death, Barbara lived in the house free and clear of mortgage for another 15 years with her daughter May and her son-in-law, Providence Mounts.Typhoid fever, caused by contaminated water, didn’t discriminate between rich and poor people. In 1908, almost two decades after William’s and Lena’s deaths, a neighbor of the Matlock family, and one of North Texas’ wealthiest men, A. E. Graham lost his wife and daughter to typhoid fever.After the deaths of family members, that family led the charge to get Denton a sewer system. City bonds raised half of the money needed; fundraising contributed to the balance needed for everyone to be able to tie into the new system.This Craftsman Style house is a two-story hip-roofed residence with a single entry door with sidelights sheltered by newly restored front porch. Wood-framed sash windows complement the hip-roofed dormer and wood siding.Be one of the first to visit the Matlock House with the restored front porch.
1906 Christal House - 722 West Oak Street
Built in 1906 by Margaret and Jim Christal, their daughter Grace was born and married in the house.Built in 1906 in Queen Anne style with Italianate influence, this was the home of Margaret & Jim Christal. The house is a two-story hip-roofed irregular-plan Queen Anne style with hip-roofed wrap-around porch supported by Corinthian columns and eave brackets, single entry door with sidelights and transom windows, inset second-floor porch with arched opening, wood-framed sash windows, leaded glass windows, hip-roofed dormer with single window, interior brick chimneys, and eave brackets.The six distinct coal fireplaces, designed by the Christals, provided warmth for the family. Golden oak accents the embossed copper ceiling in the dining room. The rear building, recently rehabilitated, was the carriage house where Jim Christal kept his horse and buggy to return each weekend to his Golden Hoof Ranch (via Jim Christal Rd named after Jim who created this carriage road), working weekdays as President of the Exchange National Bank with Edmond Franklin (E. F.) Bates as Cashier.Local contractor Frank Craft built this home in 1906, the first in Denton built with indoor plumbing and only electric power. Edmond Bates also contracted with Frank Craft in 1906 to build his home at 719 West Sycamore. Both homes share architectural elements from their concurrent construction by Craft.The house served as the Favor’s Day Care, now Wellspring Academy. The home is now owned by Annetta Ramsay and Randy Hunt, who historically restored the Christal House, gaining a RTHL (Registered Texas Historic Landmark) marker for this home from the Texas Historical Commission in 2015.
1886 Scripture House - 819 West Oak Street
Built in 1886, this house, originally Italianate style, was home for Annie and Robert Scripture, merchants and grocers at the Scripture building on the Denton Square, at the corner of Elm and Oak Streets.Remodeled in 1912 by the third owner, it is now Mission Revival style. The renovation doubled the size of the original house. This was the first brick and tile roof home on West Oak Street.The two-story hip- and gable roofed irregular-plan Mission Revival Style residence has a three bay full-width porch/balcony with flattened arched openings with center Mission Style parapet, sash windows, exposed rafter tails, a prominent Mission Style parapet wall on the second floor with shed-roofed covers over windows, a hip-roofed dormer, and interior brick chimneys.Annie Scripture purchased the lot on June 1, 1885, after her marriage to local grocer Robert Scripture, and before the 1886 birth of their daughter.They built a two-story Italianate style home with local kiln-made bricks to deter fire risks. The same bricks used to construct his grocery business in 1882, the Scripture Building on the Square, now Dix Coney Island Denton.The Scriptures sold their sturdily built 1886 Italianate style house to Robert Hann in 1890. Robert and brother, John, owned a dry goods store on the south side of the Square. The Hann brothers owned “Hann Hill” on Sycamore Street and clashed with “The Syndicate” until they were brought into the Syndicate’s 1890 real estate development deal to create the College Addition where 10 of 240 acres were given to create the North Texas State Normal College, now UNT. Robert’s wife, Mary, chartered the Ariel Club with twenty women in this house in 1891.Robert and Mary Hann sold the house to Berry (B. H.) Deavenport in 1910. Deavenport helped organize Denton County National Bank in 1892, owned an insurance agency, and was city treasurer for 26 years. He married Mary Bell in 1879. They contracted with M. B. Whitlock to make extensive changes to the house.Whitlock was the contractor for many buildings, including the Graham house at 705 West Oak, the original Normal library, now Curry Hall at UNT, and Denton County National Bank on the Square that still stands on the east side of the Square.When the house floor space doubled in 1912, the rose window and Mission style elements were added. New bricks formed the curved gables making the exterior walls over 14” thick, transforming the house style.Berry died in 1918. A year later, Mary moved to 822 West Hickory, one of two cottages her husband built in 1916 behind their home, selling this house while retaining the two lots on West Hickory. Many members of the Deavenport family are buried at IOOF cemetery in Denton.Carroll Rich, a grassroots founder of current historic preservation in Denton, gained Denton’s first RTHL (Recorded Texas Historic Landmark) in 1980 for a home in Denton. He and other neighbors like Dolores and Don Vann, supported and created preservation of homes and other historical buildings in Denton. The RTHL marker is near the entry to the house on the front porch. The Scripture house is now a home which retains high integrity in the West Oak Residential National Register District.
1914 Sledge House - 907 West Hickory Street
The story of this house begins with the marriage of Effie McClurkan to Robert Adolphus (R. A.) Sledge on August 29, 1898, in Denton. Effie (9/4/1876 – 5/27/1944) was born in Houston County, Tennessee. Several in her family were Cumberland Presbyterian ministers and the family moved to Denton to support their church, which began the Cumberland Presbyterian Home in Denton.Effie met Robert (9/20/1876 – 7/15/1953) while he worked for McClurkan’s Department Store, after working for John A. Hann at the Hann Dry Goods on the square.In 1910 the couple lived at 114 W Sycamore. This US Census reports he was 34 and she was 31, married 10 years. They adopted a daughter, Dorothy, before the 1920 US Census.Between 1900 and 1925, the couple had completed 20 mechanic’s liens with builders. Eight of these homes were built in the area, including their personal home located at 907 West Hickory and the house across the street at 906 West Hickory.The Sledge’s signed a contract in 1914 with builder W. B. Whitlock to build this Craftsman Style home.The house is a two-story, hip-roofed residence with wide front-gabled full-width porch supported by tapered box columns on brick piers with eave returns and vertical half timbering in gable end. A single entry door with sidelights and transom, multi-pane wood-framed sash windows, wood siding, hip-roofed dormer, and exterior brick chimney accent the external features.Effie and R.A. lived in this homestead and in 1918, Mr. Sledge recorded this address as his home when he submitted his WWI draft card. In his WWI draft registration card information, he is working for the W. B. McClurkan’s Company dry goods store at the southwest corner of the square, now at 207 W Hickory. W. B. McClurkan was the brother of his wife, Effie McClurkan Sledge. McClurkan built and owned the McClurkan Building and the McClurkan Dry Goods Store, now the Hickory Street Office Building, on the square while serving on the Denton City Council between 1914 to 1921. The couple retained their home until their deaths.
