Cunningham Home

JAMES AND SARA CUNNINGHAM HOUSE

LATE IN 1899 JAMES (JIM) MONROE CUNNINGHAM MOVED TO OAKVILLE FROM DEVINE AND BOUGHT THE LIVE OAK COUNTY LEADER. CUNNINGHAM SOON MARRIED SARA EMMA (O’NEAL) AND THEY BEGAN A FAMILY. WHEN OAKVILLE WAS BYPASSED BY THE SAN ANTONIO UVALDE AND GULF RAILROAD (SAU&G), CUNNINGHAM MOVED HIS FAMILY AND BUSINESS SEVEN MILES WEST TO HAMILTONBURG (LATER NAMED THREE RIVERS). HE THEN CONTRACTED THE FIRST PERMANENT HOME IN THE NEW TOWN AS MOST DWELLINGS WERE TEMPORARY TENT-LIKE STRUCTURES.

GEORGE D. SMITH CONTRACTED TO BUILD THE CUNNINGHAM HOME AND COMPLETED IT IN SEPTEMBER 1913. THE PRAGMATIC ONE-STORY, FIVE-ROOM FRAME HOUSE WITH WOOD SHINGLED ROOF INCORPORATED SEVERAL ARCHITECTURAL STYLES, INCLUDING CONTEMPORARY PRAIRIE AND FOURSQUARE WITH ELEMENTS OF VICTORIAN. A LARGE ENCLOSED HALLWAY EXTENDING FROM THE FRONT DOOR TO THE BACK DOOR AND TWELVE FOOT CEILINGS CREATED A CONVECTION EFFECT PERMITTING COOL SOUTHERLY COASTAL BREEZES THROUGHOUT THE HOUSE.

THE HOME’S SPACIOUS INTERIOR OFTEN SERVED AS THE FOCAL POINT FOR MANY SOCIAL EVENTS IN THE COMMUNITY. THE CUNNINGHAM FAMILY MADE NUMEROUS CONTRIBUTIONS TO THREE RIVERS THROUGH OWNING AND EDITING THE AREA’S WEEKLY NEWSPAPER, THE LIVE OAK COUNTY LEADER (AND THEN THE THREE RIVERS NEWS), SERVICE ON THE FIRST SCHOOL BOARD AND LEADERSHIP IN SCHOOL ACCREDITATION, ORGANIZATION OF THE FIRST BAPTIST CHURCH, AND MUSICAL INSTRUCTION AND MENTORING. THIS HISTORIC HOME, WHICH IN ITS FIRST 100 YEARS SURVIVED TWENTY FLOODS AND THE ATLANTIC GULF HURRICANE OF 1919 AND HURRICANE BEULAH IN 1967, EMBODIES THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SOUTH TEXAS TOWN OF THREE RIVERS.