Houses

Houses. Settled 1852. , The Thomas McKee Ellis (1799-1890) house, parts of which date back to 1846, was one of the first clapboard houses built in the Lancaster community. Several other specimens of this type of construction have been wrecked in and about Lancaster since World War II. As a type, its historical interest centers in the fact that it succeeded the log cabins generally built by the first settlers. The lumber in its construction was hauled rough sawn from East Texas., The farm house of Captain Roderick Alexander (Eck) Rawlins (1833-1910) was built, with many interruptions, including the Civil War, over a period from 1854 to 1870. In excellent preservation, inside and out, it is a good example of early Texas architecture., After arrival of railway transportation, the more pretentious Lancaster homes tended to assume the Victorian pattern prevailing elsewhere in the nation. Those built before 1900 featured as much gingerbread trim as their owner's pocketbook and taste would allow. The home of Dr. Thomas Little (1843-1889) is a well preserved example of this trend. The Little house also illustrates a common early practice of building a larger structure onto or around an earlier log cabin or small frame house. In its present form, this home was completed about 1882.