Moore House

Built in 1905 for Malinda Anderson Moore and Hardin T. Moore, the Moore House is a significant part of Ennis' architectural history. The couple married in 1892 after both had been widowed in earlier marriages, and they moved into town from a ranch east of Ennis after the house was built. Malinda came to Texas with her family in the 1850s and first married James Robert Farrar in 1868; when Farrar died wealthy in 1888, he left her substantial land and business holdings, which she managed diligently. Hardin had come to Texas with his family in the 1830s and settled in neighboring Kaufman County. A Civil War veteran, he inherited regional property after his father's death and was identified in census records as a stockman and cattle merchant, while also appearing to have interests in real estate and loans. After his first wife died in 1872, he remarried, and his second wife died in 1888. The house's size and craftsmanship reflect the family's wealth and prominence, and its Neoclassical Revival design features fluted Ionic and Doric columns, roofline balustrades with urns, a garland motif on the porch frieze, and a dominant central entry bay. By 1914 the Moores had separated, but Malinda continued living there until her death in 1930, and she was buried at Myrtle Cemetery in Ennis between the graves of her two husbands.

Ennis, Texas · United States