Miller-Curtis House

The Miller-Curtis House, built in Belton, Texas, in 1902, is an extravagant symbol of the short-lived prosperity of its first owner, William Roy Miller. The design has been attributed to Galveston architect C.W. Bulgar. The disciplined massing and exuberant-mannered detail of the house clearly distinguish it from equally commodious, but less ambitious, houses in Central Texas. The house shows the influence of a successful urban architectural practice upon the smaller population centers of the State. The structure has not been greatly altered since its construction and retains the elaborate ground floor interiors which were maintained by members of the Curtis family during their sixty-year occupancy of the house.

By the beginning of the 20th century, Belton, the county seat of Bell County, was prospering from its proximity to one of the most productive centers of cotton cultivation in the state. The city boasted an extensive area of large homes which centered around North Main Street. Belton's planters, cotton merchants, and college professors and administrators erected several imposing wooden houses on this principal north-south street, and it was in the center of this area that William Roy Miller chose to build his residence.

According to the records of Miller's attorney, A.L. Curtis, Miller had made more than a million dollars as a cotton broker in 1901. Miller's contractor, Harry Karnes, retained records now in the possession of his grandson, D.P. Porter of Belton, which show that $100,000 in cash was spent in erecting the house.

Miller's tenure in his red-brick residence lasted as his investments dwindled under the pressure of rapidly declining cotton prices. Miller declared bankruptcy in 1905 and deeded the title of the house to his brother-in-law, Charis Rogers. Miller left Belton shortly thereafter, and as his obituary in the Belton Journal relates, worked as a ranch hand in Montana and eventually operated a truck garden on Long Island, New York, where he died in 1954.

A. L. Curtis, Miller's former attorney, purchased the house from the Charis Rogers estate in 1914. Curtis made no structural changes in the house but had the dining room walls repainted and stenciled. The residence was occupied until 1973 by his son, Lee Curtis, also a Belton attorney.

In 1973 the Miller-Curtis house was sold to Richard Dale, a trustee of nearby Mary Hardin Baylor College. In 1974 Mr. Dale converted the second floor and attic story of the house into four apartments and enclosed the west galleries and open staircase to accommodate the private entries of the apartments.