The branches of live oak trees shade the streets in the Old Orange Historic District and one of the trees will be offering a shady spot for new Texas Historical Marker. The marker is for the 106-year-old house at 612 W. Orange Avenue and it will be dedicated Sunday at 2 p.m.
Judge Jerry and Susan Pennington, the current owners, are offering tours of the two-story, wood frame house after the dedication. The house was originally built for a civil engineer working for the Lutcher and Moore Lumber Company.
Judge Pennington, who is also chair of the Orange County Historical Commission, researched the history of the house. His search showed the owners have included a doctor, an owner of Higman Towing Company and a postmaster. In the years after World War II, some of Orange’s business leaders entertained out-of-town chemical company executives at the house in an effort to draw them to town.
Dorothy Meadows, also a member of the Orange County Historical Commission, is expected to be a guest at the dedication. As a young child circa 1930 she would bring her dolls to the house for tea parties with Mrs. Delha Cox, the original owner.
One of the unusual outbuildings at 612 W. Orange Avenue is not part of the tour. The 1962 underground bomb shelter has been filled in. The shelter, built by A.C. Roberts, the longest resident of the house. Judge Pennington in his history said the bomb shelter was below the water table and continually flooded.
The house was built in 1910 by Thomas G.B. Cox and his wife, Delha. After his death in December 1929, she continued to live there until 1934. That year, she had cancer and moved to live with her daughter in Houston, where she died.
Mrs. Meadows recalls that Mr. Cox was a tall, slender man who always wore a suit and tie. She considered Mrs. Cox as another grandmother and remembered that when she came to visit with her dolls, Mrs. Cox would hold out her arms and say “Come to Coxie.”
Wiley O. Jones, a doctor of osteopathy, owned the house from 1935 through 1943. Then S.C. “Carlton” and Jessie Trimble bought the house. They added a second story to the house and lived there until 1956, when they built a new house in what was the suburban area in the 2200 block of Link Avenue.
A.C. and Margie Roberts bought the house in 1956. A.C. worked for the postal service at the time. He later became the postmaster of Orange. The Roberts lived at the house until their deaths. Their daughter and son-in-law, Ann and Jim King lived at the house from 1993 until 1998, when she died.
Judge Pennington reports another couple bought the house, but their plans for restoration did not work out. The Penningtons bought the house in 2002. After a restoration lasting more than a year, they moved in and have stayed.
The house was built by contractor Daniel Webster Howell along with his son, Thomas Avant Howell, an architect who was 26 years old when the house was built. Thomas Howell designed a number of Orange’s prominent houses plus First Methodist Church in downtown. He was also a longtime president of the Orange Independent School District board of trustees.
Judge Pennington discovered in his research that the Orange Leader newspaper had two interesting headlines on Tuesday, September 18, 1934. The new high school football stadium was being dedicated as Howell Stadium. Another headline reported the death of Mrs. Delha Cox, with Thomas Howell listed as one of her pallbearers.
The house also served as the birthplace for Wylie Allbright on July 6, 1935. Judge Pennington wrote that when Delha Cox moved to Houston, she let newlyweds Cliff and Grace Clark Allbright move into the furnished house rent-free to be caretakers.
When Dr. Jones bought the house, Grace was eight-months pregnant and he let the couple live there until after the baby was born. Dr. Wynne Pearce delivered the 10-pound baby in a bedroom, which now serves as Judge Pennington’s study. The Allbrights lived in the house until six weeks after the birth.
Mrs. Cox’s daughter offered all the furnishings in the house, including china, silver-plate and linens, to the Allbrights for $200. Judge Pennington wrote the couple borrowed the money from a bank and paid it back $10 a month at 7 percent interest. The Allbrights’ granddaughter, Katy Latiolais, still has many of the original furnishings.
Judge Pennington reported that Samuel Carlton Trimble Jr. and his wife, Jessie bought the house in 1943. She had Thomas Howell build a second story from the tall, spacious attic. Dormer windows were added to the sides to extend the space of the rooms. Their son, S.C. Trimble III, known as “Tony,” grew up in the house.
S.C. Trimble was a co-owner of Higman Towing, a company still in Orange. In 1947, he became a member of the Orange Chamber of Commerce’s Industrial Development Committee. Others serving on the committee included H.J. Lutcher Stark and E.W. Brown Jr. Tony Trimble told Judge Pennington he remembers Mr. Spenser of Spenser Chemicals visiting at the house several times.
The hospitality was successful. The plant built as Spenser Chemicals has gone through several owners, but is still operating on Chemical Row.
Judge Pennington said the granddaughter of A.C. and Margie Roberts told of a squeaky stair (which still hasn’t been fixed). The Roberts were avid bridge players and had five bridge tables set up all the time in the living room.
The house has been through tears of joy and sorrow, hurricanes, floods and the threat of atomic war. It has stood as a place in local history.
-Margaret Toal, KOGT-
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