Inside This Old House

Editors Note: This is the third installment of our This Old House series. The complete collection of photos can be found on our Facebook page: Cass County Citizens Journal-Sun.

When Sam Higdon of Baton Rouge, Louisiana tried to buy his childhood home in Linden back in 2011, he discovered it was too far gone to save – instead, he found an old duplex on the next block that looked like it could be renovated in time for he and wife Jackie to retire in. What he ended up with was far better than he had imagined.

The old home at 305 North Main Street had been added to and patched up so many times it seemed to be held together by bubblegum and physics. Sam bought it for the price of taxes owed - $8,700 and some change.

“He came home all excited about it,” said Jackie. “The first time I saw it, I thought ‘what have you done?’ It took me a bit before I could see his vision.”

After the deed was in his hands, Sam started digging – figuratively and literally – for information. It started with the foundation that needed to be reinforced before anything else could be done. What was found under the house was the remnants of an old basement.

With help from historian Sue Lazara, Sam was able to put together a timeline of the additions and repairs – beginning in 1861. A contract, then called an “indenture” was placed in public records in 1860 between local carpenter Wiley Carr and Linden livery stable owners Sarah Jane and Uriah E. Squires. It reads, in part:

“Dated Nov 10, 1860: U.E. Squires hath this day employed Wiley Carr to build a dwelling house in the Town of Linden of the following dimensions, to wit: 46 ft. long, 18 feet wide, 12 feet high between joists, a hall 10 ft. wide with front door to be closed with double doors, with side & overhead lights. The back end only with double door. Two inside doors with both partition walls to be solid on one side. With floors one inch thick, 6 inches wide. With a portico in front with 4 Columns. With frieze and Cornish (cornice) as necessary. Twelve 18-light windows 12 x 14 (inches) also in the brick basement 13 windows with 12 lights 12 by 14 (inches). or which the said U.E. Squires obligates to pay him the said Carr $450 -- $100 as soon as the work is finished, $100 at the spring term of the 1861 circuit court, $250 at the fall term of the 1861 circuit court. Also in addition the said U.E. Squires is to furnish all the materials for said building & on the part of the said Wiley Carr he is to leave a store case in said building at the place pointed out by Squires & to seal said Portico throughout, also to be done in good workmanlike style & put in the window stop. Carr further agrees to commence the work on Monday next and continue until presented, and acknowledges the work is then done. (Notarized & Recorded Jan. 22, 1861 by Thos J. White)”

Researching the Squires leads to the 1860 Federal Census, which has them listed in “Cass, Beat 1, Linden Post Office.” Further research turns up the following info: Uriah was previously married to Ann Wallis, who died in 1855. He then married Sarah Jane Cundiff in Tennessee in 1858; they had three children, plus the children he had with Ann. Uriah died in 1862, just two years after moving into the new home. Sarah Jane’s death certificate lists her as dying in 1872 in Fannin, Texas.

However, the house was sold at public auction in July 1868 by an “estate administrator,” which must have been Uriah’s estate. There is no record of who bought it or how much they paid. Having only these facts, one has to wonder if Sarah Jane was forced to leave the home for tax arrears, or if she just moved with all the children to Fannin and abandoned the home.

The next public record shows the home being passed from County Sheriff and Tax Collector W.A. Whatley to F. E. Rogers in 1879. In 1867 Rogers had bought the Squires livery from the estate, which was just a block south of the home. He sold the home a few months later to J. M. Fletcher for $200.

In 1887 Fletcher sold the house to W. D. Lanier for $525. Lazara cites the increase in price as reason to believe improvements were made prior to the sale, including the filling of the basement and new rock foundation laid. A room was also added on the North side.

The next owner, G. W. Sheffield, bought the home from Lanier for only $200 in 1894. The contractor made some serious improvements on the home which allowed him to make seven times his purchase price when he sold it in 1917 to Linden attorney Elmer Lincoln for $1,400 – more than the usual family home cost at that time.

A short two years later Elmer and wife Prudie made the sell that gives the home it’s unique distinction – to a young Wright Patman, fresh from the war. He bought Lincoln’s law practice and the house for $2,000 in 1919. Lincoln moved to Texarkana, became a judge, and continued to be a staunch supporter of Patman’s political career.

Patman, a Hughes Springs native, had completed law school before joining the Army. He later became a first lieutenant and machine gun officer in the Texas Army National Guard’s 144th Infantry Regiment, where he remained a member for many years after the war.

In 1920 Patman was elected to the Texas House of Representatives but left in 1924 when he was appointed district attorney of the fifth judicial district of Texas. The democrat then served as U. S. Congressman from Texas’s 1st Congressional District from 1929 until his death in 1976 – 24 consecutive terms.

During his time in office he was known as a “fiscal watchdog” and spent many years as Chairman of the Banking Committee. In 1932 he spearheaded a movement to impeach Treasury Secretary Andrew Mellon, which forced his resignation. Among other accomplishments, Patman was also a major player in the Watergate hearings.

In 1948 the Texarkana Reservoir was formed from the Sulphur River when the dam was built; upon completion in 1953 the lake filled. In 1973 the lake and dam were renamed in honor of Congressman Patman.

When Patman moved to D.C. in 1929 he sold his Linden home to Mary Lou Chaddick, who ran a boarding house; her surety merchant was Linden’s Mayor M.D. Givens. They sold it to Monroe B. Allen (Allen Brothers Department Store) in 1945, who then sold the home to Leon Morrow in 1965. Morrow’s name was on the deed when Higdon purchased the property.

In 2012 Higdon and Lazara submitted their research to the Texas Historical Committee in Austin. It was determined eligible as a Registered Texas Historical Landmark at that time, and when the renovations are complete it will have the medallion to show for it. In the meantime, the Cass County Historical Committee has named the home a Cass County landmark – the first such designation the group made since forming.

Higdon’s plans for the home include turning one of the front parlors into a museum honoring Patman in the future bed and breakfast. He and Jackie have completely renovated the small cottage in the backyard – the former home of a Linden teacher – so they have somewhere to stay when they drive up from Baton Rouge to work on the place.

Stacks of old, weathered lumber take up space in several rooms of the home. Higdon is grateful it can be repurposed given the high cost of lumber now. Everything worth keeping will go back into the house – doorknobs, drawers, shiplap cedar-shake shingles – along with a few donated mementos of Linden’s past, including one distinct oddity.

“This was an exam table of one of Linden’s first doctors,” Higdon explains, pointing to a slopping wooden box-type structure. “Somebody gave it to my mom and we had it in the house. My brother was actually born on it.”

This version of 305 North Main Street will have something the home never had before – a staircase winding up to the new second story. The upstairs room facing the Courthouse will be called “The Henley Room,” named for Linden’s golden boy, Don Henley, who named his last and best-selling solo album Cass County. From this rooms’ window there is a clear view of the old water tower that is pictured on that album cover.

There is still much to be done, but the outside front belies that fact. The white paint and navy trim is fresh, and the porch is spacious enough to hold a dozen rocking chairs. If you happen to drive by on a weekend and see the couple rocking on the porch, stop and ask Sam and Jackie about the house. They will be happy to share their vision, which they hope will bring more tourism into Linden.