Houses on the Move

Thurber Houses Find Homes in Stephenville

Thurber was a coal mining town seventy miles west of Fort Worth that boasted 10,000 inhabitants. With an economy based on underground mining for bituminous coal and the manufacture of bricks, the community thrived from the 1880s to the 1930s. It was a company town owned solely by the Texas & Pacific Coal Company. Every shop, every church, every house belonged to the firm.

The people of Thurber, located in northern Erath County, had a long standing relationship with Stephenville. Several city streets are paved with the Thurber brick. The company supplied students, material, and financial support to John Tarleton Agricultural College, later known as Tarleton State University.

After the mines and brick kilns at Thurber closed, its buildings were sold and carted away to surrounding areas. Houses were dismantled or moved intact and relocated to Mingus, Strawn, Gordon, Hannibal, Stephenville, Duffau, and many other places. The company operations relocated to Fort Worth, where they remained into the 1960s.

Grady Daniels remembers helping his father move many of these houses to Stephenville. He is the reason that at least ten “Thurber houses” have been identified. There are undoubtedly many more. They have several distinct characteristics. Do you know where a Thurber house is hiding?

Special thanks to Rusty Bennett, Glenda Stone, and the Dick Smith Library for their kind assistance with this exhibit.