Stoddard, Jessie W., House

The Jessie W. Stoddard House is an excellent example of vernacular architecture, part of a landscape that "acknowledges and celebrates the role of time" (Jackson). The dwelling is an undisturbed and largely intact stone and frame dwelling in Goliad. Constructed in phases, the building is significant at the local level under Criterion C in the area of Architecture for its expression of evolving vernacular design.

One of the three oldest municipalities in Texas, Goliad was the site of an Aramana Indian village named Santa Dorotea when the mission Nuestra Senora del Espirito Santo de Zuniga and the presidio Nuestra Senora de Loreta were moved there in 1749.

Strategically positioned on a rocky rise above the south bank of the San Antonio River, Spanish troops occupied the presidio until the Mexican Revolution of 1810 to 1812. "La Bahia" evolved as the popular name of the presidio and the mission complex, and in 1829 the Mexican Congress of Coahuila and Texas declared the settlement a town. Goliad, the newly proclaimed municipality, owed its importance to the nearby port of Copano, 40 miles south on the Gulf of Mexico. Around the fort and near it was the stone houses of wealthier citizens. These were probably 1-story, flat-roofed buildings with parapets three or four feet high. Beyond the stone, houses were from 50 to 100 cabins, or jacales, dwellings of humbler citizens.

Goliad's proximity to shipping established its strategic position from the outset of the Texas Revolution. In October 1835 Texas forces successfully captured the garrison protecting Mexican supplies. With the Mexican garrison at Presidio La Bahia isolated from goods and reinforcements by way of the sea, Texans eventually defeated their weakened troops.

On 20 December 1835, the citizens of Goliad gathered at the presidio for the reading of the Goliad Declaration of Independence, asserting that the former Mexican department of Texas ought to be a "free, sovereign, and independent state." The following year Mexican forces outside the city overtook a retreating Texas army. They brought about 340 men back to the presidio and executed them in what became known as the "Goliad Massacre."

Following Texas' 1836 independence, Goliad County became one of the original counties of the Republic of Texas. The area was practically deserted for several years as many Mexican settlers retreated south. Anglo settlement north of the San Antonio River did not begin until 1840, the same year the Congress of the Republic incorporated the town of Goliad.

The townsite was established on a grid street system centered about 1 1/4 miles north of the original settlement at the mission and presidio. The Stoddard House was now at the intersection of Hord and Fannin streets, approximately one mile north of La Bahia, presumably one of the oldest surviving stone buildings in Goliad County. Exact construction dates remain unknown; however, it is possible that the original structure was built as early as the 1820s, according to physical evidence and oral histories. The 1-story c. 1847 portion of the building exhibits characteristics typical of colonial-era construction methods influenced by Spanish and Mexican designs. A flat course of stones that may have served as the original parapet and an eight-inch difference in the height of the north and south walls indicates a flat, slightly sloped roof characteristic of Hispanic colonial building techniques. Other colonial construction methods include a stone buttress, multiple external doors, thick stone walls, and the length of the structure (33 feet, or 10 varas, a Spanish unit of measure).

Oral history sources also report that the building's initial phase of construction was quite early. Former occupants of the house (both descendants of Joseph Collins, who owned the house from 1879 to 1906) asserted that it "was the third house built across the river from the presidio[.] in what is presently Goliad" and that it was built in the 1820s when the stone from the abandoned mission was readily available. Furthermore, Raiford Stripling, a restoration architect who worked on the mission from 1935 to 1940 and the presidio from 1963 to 1968, stated in 1989 that the original building was built in the 1820s.

Additional physical and documentary information implies a later date of construction. The building is carefully aligned along the Anglo grid plat that dates to the early 1840s. Documentation provides evidence that the house was built by 1847; at an auction on 3 August 1847 Jessie W. Stoddard paid $30.50 for this lot, almost three times the average price paid for vacant lots ($10 to $12) at the time. Based on this higher cost, both the original stone building and the stone addition may have been constructed prior to 1847. The Stoddard House was one of 20 houses described in local newspaper clippings dated 1848, along with two stores and a hotel (Obereste). The stone addition was probably in response to a need for more living space.

Jessie W. Stoddard, according to the 8 June 1889 Goliad Guard was one of the first "American Citizens who settled near or where the main public square is situated." In 1846, Jessie W. Stoddard purchased 80 acres of land between Fannin Street and the San Antonio River, south of the Stoddard House. This land subsequently was parceled as the Stoddard Subdivision. Stoddard was elected a trustee of Goliad's Paine Female Institute in 1852 and served as a member of the local school board from 1854 to 1858.

An 1866 deed granted the property to Eliza A. Lane, assignee of J.W. Stoddard. The 1860 census states that the Lane family consisted of Johnathan W. Lane, a 44-year-old physician from Virginia; Eliza, 36, from Ohio; and their four children born in Indiana.

In 1879, the Lanes conveyed the property to Artie Holliday Collins for $1,000. Collins was the granddaughter of plantation owner Thomas Holliday who had extensive holdings in Victoria and Goliad counties. Her husband Joseph Collins immigrated to Dallas County, Texas, from Kentucky in 1846. Joseph Collins and his brother, Joel, were linked with the cattle business in Goliad as early as 1865. The Collins brothers remained active in cattle buying and driving and were prominent trail bosses on the drives from the Goliad area to railheads in Kansas City and Dodge City, Kansas. The Collins had six children (Zelime, Custer Lee, Roberta Holliday, Robert, James, and Helen). In 1904 Helen married James "Happy" Lott.

Artie Collins conveyed the property to Helen and "Happy" Lott in 1906. Artie continued to live in the house, while the Lotts spent time at both their ranch house (between Goliad and Beeville) and the Stoddard House, their townhouse.

The Lotts sold the property to W.M. Neyland in 1916. While in Neyland's ownership, a frame outbuilding was constructed at the back of the lot. This outbuilding first appeared on the 1924 Sanborn Fire Insurance Company map. In 1929 Neyland sold the property to Mary T. Billups. By 1934 US Highway 183 had been constructed. The 1934 Sanborn Fire Insurance Company map shows the highway and the house in its present configuration, with no outbuildings. The new highway cuts diagonally across the back portion of the lot. It appears that this c. 1934 board and batten addition may have originally served as the outbuilding at the back of the lot since it resembles the addition in size, shape, and materials.

The Billups family lived in the house for three generations. The last member of the family, Robert Billups, lived in the house until 1975.
John C. Brooke of Corpus Christi purchased the house in 1987; he plans to complete the phased restoration and apply for tax credit benefits under the Economic Recovery Tax Act of 1981.

The Stoddard House exudes "vernacular." Constructed with local techniques and materials, it befits the local environment: its climate, traditions, economy, and setting (Jackson). This building feigns no stylistic sophistication, but instead is loyal to practicality and necessity and deserves care and preservation.