James Claude Wright House

Robert P. Lowe and his wife purchased this property on September 20, 1898. The commonly held belief is that Robert Lowe, who retired from the Mobile and Ohio Railroad in 1894 and settled his family in Weatherford, built the house sometime between 1897 and 1899 while the building for his hardware business was under construction. Because a fire destroyed the Parker County Courthouse in 1874, early records of the home do not exist. The earliest Sanborn map, from 1885, shows a home at this location, and the 1894 map shows the same home, strongly suggesting that a pre-existing structure was expanded or remodeled in the 1890s. The house represents the Queen Anne style with minimal modifications. In 1905, the back porch was enclosed to create a bathroom, closets were added in the bedrooms, and the kitchen was remodeled. The original transoms remain in place, including the stained-glass transom panel over the front door. After Robert Lowe died in 1920 and his wife Evalina died in 1924, the house was eventually sold to Nannie Hauser in 1927. James Claude and Marie Wright purchased the home from Hauser in 1940. James Wright started a business selling street signs to small towns and established National Trade Days to help promote small businesses. James Wright's descendants occupied the home until 1972. In 2009, the city of Weatherford purchased the home to prevent demolition and convert it to city offices. Its architecture and its associations with the Lowe and Wright families enhance Weatherford's historic fabric.

Weatherford, Texas · United States