The home at 205 Miller Street in Queen City was, at one time, a bed and breakfast.
Inset photo 1: The side entrance, which faces the side entrance, opens into a small entryway and is no longer used.
Inset photo 2: William Franklin Mathews built the Victorian cottage in 1878.
Inset photo 3: Mr. and Mrs. Ross Albert Powell bought the house in 1918 and it remained in the family for many decades.
This Victorian pump organ combination with wine bar was a typical find in homes of the time.
This antique piano, along with the organ, have been fixtures in the home since it was built.
The twin built-in bookshelves in the foyer frame the hallway.
The Mathews-Powell House, Queen City
In 1878, just a year after Queen City, Texas was founded, Confederate veteran William Franklin Mathews built a Victorian home at 205 Miller Street, just a couple of blocks from the railroad tracks. Previously a farmer, the Georgia-born Mathews was a successful merchant for many years in the new town.
Mathews was born in Georgia in 1840 and had moved to Marion County, Texas with his family as a child. From 1861 he enlisted as a private in the 3rd Texas Infantry, but was discharged due to sickness. Four months later he re-enlisted as Private, Co A, 19th Texas Infantry, CSA and served till war’s end in 1865.
In 1867, at the age of 27, Mathews married Harriett India Sharpe and their first child, William Harry was born in 1871 in Jefferson. Their second child, Albert Thurman, was born in 1874. Third child, Frank, was born in 1878, just after the family moved to Queen City.
In 1880 a fourth son, Marion, was born and died eleven months later. In 1882 a fifth son, Hattie J., was born. Hattie died at the age of 31 in Cass, Texas.
The Mathews sold their Queen City home in 1895 and moved to Wood Street in Texarkana, Texas. It was there that he died in 1900 at the age of 59. Harriet died in 1921; son Frank in 1923; William in 1953; and Albert died in 1965 at the age of 91. All of the family members are buried in Queen City.
The house changed hands several times before another merchant, Ross Albert Powell, bought it in 1918. He was born in Cass, Texas in 1883 to Sarah Jane Ball and William Capers Powell.
In 1904, at the age of 21, Powell married Augusta “Gussie” Boyd. They had four children within the first 10 years of their marriage: William Ross, Josephine, Evelyn and Anna Sue.
Tragedy struck the family in 1920 when Gussie died after a two-week bout of influenza with complications at the age of 37. Her obituary in the Citizens Journal offered insight into the life of the mother of four. It reads, in part:
The entire community felt the influence of her life to realize what we have lost. Mrs. Powell was broad in her sympathy. No call or need but that found a responsive heart in her. One of her strongest characteristics was patriotism; true to public interest and progressiveness. She read and thought much on living issues and was conversant in our best literature…In the church Mrs. Powell gave of her best. She loved the church. The Sunday School was her home; each of her children was brought to Sunday School from infancy, until their record has probably excelled that of any other family. She was a teacher in Sunday School at the time of her death. She was an active and very useful member of the Woman’s Missionary Society…The town has truly lost one of its best friends. Her open doors of hospitality have brought many, many pleasures. Mrs. Powell will be missed--so sadly missed--from our town and from our church, but most of all from the home that she had made so happy.
Powell died on March 14, 1937, at the age of 54, and was buried next to Gussie in Queen City cemetery. The house remained in the Powell family, and operated as Antique Rose Bed and Breakfast in the 1990s.
The home was listed in the Texas Historical Commission list of homes in 1973. A historical marker medallion was presented in 1977 and is temporarily down until the current restoration is complete.
Over the years updates have included a storage/utility room in 1960 and a back deck in 2014. The side door opens into a small entry, with interior doors on both sides to access the two bedrooms used for guests.
Last year, Dan and Marjean Cox of Seattle, Washington, were looking to move from the Pacific Northwest area to a more affordable and peaceful location. They found the Mathews-Powell house online and snapped it up, sight unseen.
The couple are both retired and have four grown children. Dan was a paint contractor and has already changed the face of the house, giving it a fresh mint base with plum and pink accents to bring out the Victorian dollhouse features.
Work on the home has been put on hold while Dan recovers from knee surgery, but they hope to have the projects finished in time to decorate for Christmas – their favorite holiday. In the meantime, the couple enjoys finding period furnishings and décor to compliment the architecture.