That's one old house

I have family in Delaware. It isn't out of the ordinary for houses to be several hundred years old, and they are awesome very worth asking to look around. I find it so much more interesting to get history on old houses in Texas! I spoke with Deborah for awhile this week. She shared with me the information binders she had put together regarding ownership and modification history on their home. The house used to be part of a historical tour in the limestone area years ago she said, and they had pamphlets of information at one point but couldn't locate any. I took some time reading through her documents and sketches of layouts. It was very neat to see what sections of the house were original, especially having walked through the house with her many times. I can only imagine what it would have been like to live in the two room house it started off as.
The next bit of information is directly from her collection of historical data.

The original deed was dated 1884 for an ajoined property of Trinity University per T. L. Garrison. In February of 1915 it was sold to Julia Buckholt. August of 1920 three property was sold to George & Eva Evans and C.D. Kay. In 1924 J.W. Higgins purchased the house for $1,500.00. The information page stating, "with three payments of $500.00 in two yearly payments at 10% interest." (I don't quite understand that)
The most interesting thing to me about the house's history was that it was the town switchboard. When you dialed in to the town, you got the operator, and told them the house number and would be rerouted to their line. Very cool. The home was heated with wood stoves. When they did eventually get electricity only two "drop pull chain lights" were installed. Water was originally collected in a cistern located by the back porch. When it was piped in tge only running water was on the back porch. The floors are the original wood, and the door into the living room from the original hall way is the one installed when it was built. The East's acquired the home from the Higgin's who I guess in someway were family and have since renovated the once 1200 sq.ft. Home to it's current 2000 sq. ft. size.

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