Brooks, William and Blanche, House

The William and Blanche Brooks House is part of a 12-block Victorian-era neighborhood, just 2 blocks south of the railroad and its associated commercial zone in Forney, Texas. It is one of two large and dominant Queen Anne-style houses in the area. Built in 1898, it was designed by Dallas architect, Charles Alexander Gill for William Armstead Brooks. William Brooks owned significant acreage in the county, raised cattle, grew cotton, and eventually went into banking. He was a major force in the economic and commercial development of Forney, Texas. The William and Blanche Brooks House is eligible for listing in the National Register at the local level of significance under Criterion B in the area of Commerce, as the home of William Armstead Brooks who was instrumental in the development of Forney at the turn of the century. It is also eligible at the local level under Criterion C in the area of Architecture as an excellent example of the Queen Anne Style.

Forney, originally Brooklyn, is in northwestern Kaufman County, approximately 6 miles from the easternmost edge of the Dallas city limits. Presently a bedroom community of Dallas, originally it was a small agricultural center linked to its neighbor by way of the Texas and Pacific Railroad (Missouri Pacific). The coming of the railroad to Forney in 1873 provided a boost for commerce and agriculture and spurred development. Even the town's name is a result of the railroad. In 1874 the local post office was named for railroad engineer John W. Forney. As a result of having a direct transportation link to nearby Dallas, Forney experienced a commercial development boom that lasted from the 1870s to the 1930s.

Forney is part of the rich agricultural and ranching area of the upper Blackland prairie that supports cotton production. Abundant vegetation makes most of Kaufman County ideal for cattle ranching, as well. Historically, Forney was a regional agricultural center for the county. It never expanded beyond a small regional support community due to the close proximity of Dallas, with its highly developed rail network that dominated north-central Texas trade and commerce. However, the proximity and magnitude of the Dallas market ensured Forney's continued existence.

William Armstead Brooks was born in 1859 in Brooksville, Mississippi, and arrived in Forney in 1876 at age 17. He was the 10th child of Madison Macajah and Nancy Brooks. He was brought to Texas by his parents who were fleeing personal tragedy and post-war chaos in Mississippi where they had lost two sons in the War Between the States. The family arrived with some financial resources, for W.A. Brooks was able to quickly amass a considerable amount of agricultural land. According to local historians, "They were people of purpose and education. They became outstanding Texans."
At age 38, W.A. Brooks married a school teacher from Missouri, Blanche Lane. Blanche C. Lane was born July 18, 1870, in Mt. Sterling, Kentucky. In 1872 her family moved to Cass County, Missouri.

She taught school in Cass County, Missouri, for eight years. In the spring of 1896, she met W.A. Brooks of Forney. Both were members of the wedding party of Yancy McKellar of Forney, who married Emily Guyton of Missouri. The following year, on October 18, 1897, Blanche C. Lane became the bride of W.A. Brooks. The wedding took place in the Christian Church at Harrisonville, Missouri. Immediately after the marriage, they left for their future home in Forney. Three children were born to them in the house on Center Street: W.A., Jr. (1898-1946), James Knox (1900-1969), and Sue Ellen (1902-1978), who became Mrs. Gordon T. West of Wichita Falls, Texas.

One of Mr. Brooks' long-time friends and a leading citizen of Forney was Yancy McKellar. The one-acre lot on which Mr. Brooks built his home was a wedding gift from Yancy McKellar. The adjoining lot was purchased in the McKellar subdivision on February 2, 1898, for the sum of $450, and was set aside as a home site for W.A. Brooks, Jr., born on September 25, 1898. This close association with those developing the land is likely the reason the street to the north of the property is named Brooks Avenue.

Forney was known in agriculture circles as a producer of prairie hay grown as a native grass. The rich black soil of Kaufman County attracted numerous ranchers who recognized the value of the natural grass prairies which had a widespread reputation for cattle grazing. Surplus hay, grown on much of the surrounding and gently sloping ground, was collected through the bailing process and exported out of the county to other cattle feeders. W.A. Brooks engaged in raising large numbers of calves and shipping this beef stock to markets in the upper Midwest by rail. According to an article published June 21, 1893, in the Forney Tribune, W.A. Brooks had shipped 12 cars of cattle to Chicago the previous evening.

Not only was Forney a railhead for shipping cattle and prairie hay but soon became a farming center for cotton. In the late 19th century, soon after inventor John Deere developed a metal, one-piece version of the moldboard plow, the rich black clay of Kaufman County was easily cultivated and thousands of acres were planted in cotton. W.A. Brooks became one of Forney's largest landowners and one of its most prominent citizens engaged in raising cotton. Subsequently, W.A. Brooks organized one of the local cotton gins that were constructed for processing cotton fiber.

Concurrent with the burgeoning growth of agriculture and ranching in Forney, was commercial development. Local banking became a necessity. W.A. Brooks was among the first founding organizers of the Farmers National Bank of Forney. In 1909 the charter of the Forney National Bank expired. A new charter was obtained by the institution and the bank's name was changed to Farmers National Bank. W.A. Brooks helped in this reorganization and served the bank as director from 1909 to 1925 and in 1925 was made president, serving until his death in 1932.

During his tenure as bank president, he was tendered an appointment on the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas Board but declined. The focus of his interests was at the local level. As such, he was a major bank stockholder a director of the Forney Oil and Cotton Mill, and the Forney Ice and Water Company. Other entrepreneurial activities included the export of bois d'arc foundation blocks. W.A. Brooks was a financial supporter of the Forney Sanitarium, on the Board of Directors of the State Hospital at Terrell, and served on the Board of Directors of the Christian Courier Publishing Company. In 1932 he served as County Chairman to the Democratic Convention.

Through his founding of the manufacturing, processing, and service business, W.A. Brooks was instrumental in developing the local economy of Forney. His wealth led to the establishment of a solid economic base for the city that revolved around agriculture, cattle, and banking. "At the time of his death, in his home on Center Street, August 1932, Brooks was one of the largest landowners in Kaufman County, plus owning considerable [land] in Dallas and Collin counties." The Forney Messenger called Mr. William Armstead Brooks, Sr. its best-known and most loved citizen. Mr. and Mrs. W.A. Brooks are buried in the Brooks family lot at the Forney Hillcrest Cemetery.

The William and Blanche Brooks House is an excellent example of the Queen Anne Style, and how the style was updated in the early 20th century. It is on the northern end of a large residential area that retains approximately 60% of its Victorian-era buildings. The house is one of two grandly scaled Queen Anne residences that remain in the area. The other is a block east on Center Street, the McKellar House (RTHL 1989).

The house has asymmetrical massing, typical of the Queen Anne Style. Other stylistically identifying features include the round turret with a conical roof, tall hip roof, pent roof enclosing the gable, cutaway bay, integral 2nd-floor porch, varied window shapes and sizes, fanciful and intricately detailed chimneys, and delicate wraparound porch. The circa 1915 update involved replacing the spindlework Queen Anne Style porch with a Colonial Revival Style porch. The porch is characterized by brick piers and a foundation supporting coupled Doric colonettes and a projecting pedimented entry. The interior changes made in 1915 reflect a step in the evolution of public spaces away from Victorian-era formality to an ever-increasing informality marked, in part, by the absence of an entry hall.

In order to create an up-to-date and progressive image for the town's development, Brooks went to the nearby commercial metropolis of Dallas to hire his architect. Surviving plans indicate that the house was built by Charles Alexander Gill. Gill was active in the civic affairs of Dallas. He was first noted in the Dallas City Directory as an alderman in 1883 under Mayor William L. Cabell. In April 1892 he was elected vice-president of the School Board from the 5th Ward. The Texas State Gazetteer & Business Directory, 1890-91, lists his firm as C.A. Gill & Son. A Dallas Morning News Obituary on October 14, 1945, reads; "James Owen Gill, 77 years old, Dallas resident 71 years, retired 15 years earlier from a firm founded by his father C.A. Gill." Gill, an active architect in Dallas and surrounding counties employed the Queen Anne Style into the early 20th century. The William and Blanche Brooks House was current with national trends. Additional late 19th-century Gill-designed buildings include the large and grand 1883 Warren-Crowell House, Terrell, Kaufman County (NR 1979), the 1898 John S. Armstrong House, Dallas, Dallas County (demolished 1927), and the 1891 Lubbock County Courthouse, Lubbock (demolished circa 1910).

The pedimented front gable is large and takes up at least half of the roof width. While the exterior retained the characteristic large scale and changes in depth of the Queen Anne Style, the interior is conservative and derives most of its grandeur from the scale and proportions of the spaces rather than elaborate woodwork or detailing.

Even though Brooks was one of the wealthiest citizens in Forney, he built a frame house. While masonry construction is generally considered to be of greater quality, due to the higher level of workmanship and expense required, the frame construction of this relatively elaborate residence is typical of early North Texas railroad towns and is in keeping with the overall character of the neighborhood. Masonry construction in Forney was reserved for commercial buildings in the business district and the wealthy churches. The distance between the single-family dwellings was sufficient to minimize the spread of fire and the highly expansive black clays of this region can cause problems for load-bearing masonry.

Within 20 years after the construction of the house, a major remodeling took place. The Queen Anne Style had become dated. To show his determination to keep the image of Forney progressive, Brooks removed the delicate porch and interior details and replaced them with Colonial Revival elements.

The modifications were in keeping with the architectural trends being built in Dallas. In the first decade of the 20th century, Dallas saw the construction of several prominent civic and residential buildings in the Beaux Arts, Classic Revival, and Colonial Revival styles. Many elements of these new styles were adapted to new or existing Victorian-era buildings as well.

Though the porch is different in character from the original style of the house, it is in keeping in scale and level of detail. Since a porch is an easily modified element of domestic buildings, it is usually one of the first features to be updated or changed. In this case, the changes to the porch are typical of the period and reflect one of the most popular and current stylistic trends of the time.

Other circa 1915 changes that reflect an attempt to modernize and update the house are the addition of a door in the north-facing gable along Brooks Avenue, the addition of Adams-influenced mantels, and a reworking of the interior spaces to accommodate the addition of a new entrance. Though these changes alter the original appearance, they are historic changes associated with the original owner, and his period of significance, and are in keeping with the stylistic trends of the time.

The William and Blanche Brooks House is a significant residential building in Forney. It is an excellent example of the late 19th-century Queen Anne Style with early 20th-century stylistic modifications. It is directly associated with William Armstead Brooks, a locally significant citizen of Forney who was instrumental in establishing a commercial base for the town that has allowed it to survive. A relative lack of growth in Forney since the Great Depression of the 1930s has preserved the physical layout of the 19th-century town and prevented its destruction in the name of progress. The William and Blanche Brooks House is a prominent example of Victorian-era architecture and serves as a reminder of the role its owner played in the development of Forney. The preservation of this small-town character is one of the reasons that today Forney is benefiting as a suburban bedroom community to the increasingly close Dallas metropolitan area.