Thomason-Scott House

The Thomason-Scott House is a good example of the type of late Victorian cottage once prevalent in Texas towns, and, while the structure has had minor additions, the 1894 building remains largely unaltered and well-preserved. It has been of significance in the village of Era since its construction and is now the most prominent Victorian building surviving in that community. The Thomason-Scott House is also noteworthy as the home of Judge Robert Ewing Thomason, an eminent legislator, and jurist.

The house was constructed for Dr. Benjamin Richard Thomason and his second wife, Mary Maupin Thomason. Dr. Thomason, formerly a resident of Bedford County, Tennessee, had come to the town of Era shortly after its founding is 1878, and he was the first physician in that part of the county. The builder of the Thomason House was George Brumbaugh who, according to tradition, was sent by his family as a young man to Europe to study medicine but instead took up carpentry. The structure doubled as a home for Dr. and Mrs. Thomason and their five children, and as Dr. Thomason's office. After the doctor's death in 1909, his widow sold the house. It became the home of Mr. and Mrs, Lester August Scott in 1948, and it is now owned by Scott's son and daughter-in-law, who have worked for six years on a restoration/renovation of the house.

The most prominent occupant of the house was Judge Robert Ewing Thomason (1878-1973), Dr. Thomason's eldest child. In his memoirs, Thomason, The Autobiography of a Federal Judge, Judge Thomason recalled having hauled from Gainesville" every stick of lumber that went into our new home at Era, which house still stands and is the best one in the city." Following his graduation from the University of Texas Law School, Ewing Thomason began his long and distinguished career as a public servant. He was elected County (now District) Attorney of Cooke County (1903-07). He moved to El Paso in 1912 and there was elected to the Texas Legislature. He served as Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives (1918-1920), Mayor of El Paso (1927-1931), and Representative of the Sixteenth District of Texas to the U.S. Congress (1931-1947). During World War II he was the second-ranking member of the Military Committee of the House and played an important part in shaping the military policy of the nation. In 1947 Congressman Thomason was nominated by President Truman and later confirmed by the U.S. Senate in the position of U.S. District Judge for the Western District, and he served in that capacity for many years.

Judge Thomason's daughter, Mrs. Isabelle Thomason Dechard, is a former president of the Dallas County Heritage Society and has long been interested in historic preservation. Noting the significance of her grandfather's home as representative of its date and locale, Mrs. Dechard further remarked "It is remarkable that no major alterations have been made to the house in its eighty-five years... It seems fitting that the Thomason-Scott House be recognized as a material witness to the character of the citizenry of the community past and present."