Davison, Frank B., House

In 1895, Frank B. (10/2/1854-2/35) and Florence (10/4/1862-8/41) Davison, with their four children and all their earthly possessions, arrived in Texas City where Frank was to be the resident manager of the newly formed Texas City Improvement Company. Frank, a former Michigan wholesale grocer, had caught the vision of a group of Great Lakes shippers who envisioned a great port city at the mouth of Galveston Bay. The company had been formed to purchase land and sell lots in the area, and Shoal Point, the sleepy fishing village nestled at the base of a lighthouse, was renamed Texas City.

Soon after their arrival in Texas City the Davisons purchased a lot on the corner of Third Avenue and First Street North and began construction of a new home which, when completed, literally towered over other structures scattered across the face of the bare coastal prairie. Two years were required to build the stately mansion since cypress and other supplies had to be shipped from Louisiana. Although the original blueprints have been lost, and the architect's identity is not recorded, it is known that Mr. Langno was the builder. The Davison family has papers to support these facts.

The roomy Victorian mansion quickly became a popular community and cultural center and remained so for half a century as the Davison's lives became more and more entwined into the life of the community.

Their numerous business ventures included a general store, that for a time, operated out of the family home where Texas City's first telephone, number one, was connected to a Galveston number from which supplies were ordered. Other Davison interests were real estate, a flour mill, and a hotel--all "firsts" for the budding community. Their daughter Christine was also the first baby born in the city.
Both Frank and Florence were active in community affairs with Frank serving as the town's first postmaster, as one of the first city commissioners, as a director of the first bank, and as a member of the first school board. Besides being a busy wife and mother to eight children, Florence helped establish the first church in Texas City, hosted the first meeting of the Texas City Garden Club and helped organize the Texas City Study Club, all of which are still active in the community.

From time to time parts of the home were rented, and throughout the years many prominent citizens slept their first nights in Texas City in the breezy upstairs bedrooms of the Davison home. The home remained in the family until it was purchased two years ago by the Texas City Heritage Association and deeded to the City of Texas City. The Association has assumed the responsibility of paying off the mortgage, carrying on the restoration and operating the home for the enlightenment and benefit of all citizens.

The very fact that the home still stands there sturdy and proud, weakened somewhat and now dwarfed by the gleaming towers and glowing flares of the industrial skyline, is impressive in itself. Ever since that day in the late 1800's when the Texas City Improvement Company succumbed to bankruptcy and the Davisons calmly turned their hopes and faces in another direction, the story of Texas City has been one of faith and courage.

When the great hurricane of 1900 rolled across Galveston Island, killing thousands and leaving thousands more homeless, the Davisons and their neighbors huddled inside the sturdy walls to escape the storm's fury. Although the roof was lost that day, the home remained intact. The story was much the same in 1915 when another vicious storm almost wiped out the booming little town, completely destroying a division of the United States Army stationed here in addition to destroying homes, businesses, the docks, the railroads and the streetcar tracks.

Later, as refineries began to locate here and as workers streamed into the town, neat little homes, schools, and parks began to spring up along wide, clean streets. Then on that infamous day in 1947 the Grand Camp, loaded with a cargo of nitrate fertilizer, limped into port to fight a fire in its hold. As fascinated sightseers flocked to the docks, a series of devastating explosions and fires set off a chain reaction of death and destruction that continued for days as the whole world heard of Texas City. Hearts were indeed heavy as citizens began burying over 500 dead, clearing the debris and starting anew. The Davison home, less than a mile from the holocaust, received serious damage, and repairs to the south side (back) slightly altered the original floorplan.

The town soon began to rebuild and began to burst at the seams as a new era of growth and prosperity developed. A decade or so later all those young families who had streamed into town were settled into comfortable routines in larger, newer homes as the city pushed northward. Then one autumn day in 1961 a vicious lady named Carla swirled out of the Gulf to cover the entire city with mud and slime and watermarks everywhere from a few inches to several feet high. Soaked mattresses and carpets were laid out to dry in the sun, and piles of ruined appliances and rotting debris were stacked along the streets so tall cranes and a brigade of garbage trucks could help citizens dispose of years of time payments and coordinated furnishings. Miraculously though the storm left no deaths in Texas City so, with thankful hearts, citizens once again patiently repaired, repainted, and restructured their lives.

Meanwhile, the stately old Davison home has stood as mute testimony to the faith of the Davison family and all the other strong citizens who not only helped establish Texas City but have helped rebuild it on several occasions. The Texas City Heritage Association is planning to make the Davison Home a living memorial to all those people, past and present, who have helped to make Texas City the fine modern little city that it is today.

The home is the oldest and the most unusual of only a handful of historically significant structures still standing in the city. It is open on a regular basis for tours and displays by local artists. It is also available for meetings and parties and is visited regularly by local Scout troops and school classes. During the past two years, the Association has hosted at the home a Sunday brunch which attracted several hundred people, an old-fashioned ice cream social on the spacious lawn, a performance by a group of Jamaican musicians and dancers who were brought to the area by the Galveston County Cultural Arts Council and a special program designating the home as the official Mainland Bicentennial headquarters.

Activities at the home seem to be generating some neighborhood pride in the generally run-down condition of the now predominantly black neighborhood.

As restoration proceeds, the association plans to set aside at least one room for rotating industrial displays, which represent the backbone of our thriving .community, and to establish another area as an archive for the city. Possibilities are limitless for using the home which was awarded an official Texas historical marker in 1967 by the Texas Historical Commission.