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The Howard-Dickinson House was built in 1855 and is located at 501 South Main in 
James Logan Howard and Dave P. Howard, brothers from Virginia, built the home and lived there for 50 years. Dave Howard, his wife Martha, their 9 children, and Dave’s bachelor brother Logan Howard lived in the house. At that time, the Howard brothers were well-known brick makers and carpenters in Henderson. They manufactured the bricks at the back of the house, and many of the houses still standing in Henderson were built from these bricks.
Henderson, Texas
Henderson is a city and the county seat of Rusk County, Texas, in Northeast Texas. Its population was 13,271 at the 2020 census. Henderson is named for James Pinckney Henderson, the first governor of Texas.
The city has functioned as a major cro ...
. This house was the first brick home built in Rusk County, Texas, and is in the Italianate architecture
The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian R ...
style. In 1968, the Howard-Dickinson House was presented a Texas Historical Medallion and was recorded as a Texas Historic Landmark.
James Logan Howard and Dave P. Howard, brothers from Virginia, built the home and lived there for 50 years. Dave Howard, his wife Martha, their 9 children, and Dave’s bachelor brother Logan Howard lived in the house. At that time, the Howard brothers were well-known brick makers and carpenters in Henderson. They manufactured the bricks at the back of the house, and many of the houses still standing in Henderson were built from these bricks.
Sam Houston
Samuel Houston (, ; March 2, 1793 – July 26, 1863) was an American general and statesman who played an important role in the Texas Revolution. He served as the first and third president of the Republic of Texas and was one of the first two i ...
, the first president of the Republic of Texas
The Republic of Texas ( es, República de Tejas) was a sovereign state in North America that existed from March 2, 1836, to February 19, 1846, that bordered Mexico, the Republic of the Rio Grande in 1840 (another breakaway republic from Mex ...
, was a frequent visitor to the house. He was a cousin to Martha Howard. Houston's campaign trunk is displayed in the house.
Mrs. Katie Dickinson purchased the home in 1905 and the Dickinson family lived there for about 50 years. During this time, they added the two-story wing located in the rear of the home. This section of the home was used in the 1930s as a boarding house for workers during the East Texas oil boom.
By the 1960s, the house was in need of repair and was given by then-owner businessman Homer Bryce to the Rusk County Heritage Association, a group formed to save the house. In 1967, after much fund-raising and restoration work, the house was opened to the public as a living museum and meeting place for special events. Ghost tours are also given in the home.
References
{{coord, 32.14915, -94.79927, format=dms, type:landmark_region:US-TX, display=title Houses in Rusk County, Texas