Stinson, John R., House

The Belle Fry Gaines House is architecturally significant as an example of an elegant transition period house built during a period of change from the Greek Revival to the Victorian style. The house exhibits a combination of the formal dignity of the Greek Revival and the fussier or more elaborate ornamentation of the Victorian. The grand proportions and the prominent setting of the house indicate a return to prosperity that Marshall and the rest of Texas were enjoying in the 1870s after the end of the Civil War. The prosperity of the times was no more evident than in the fact that the house was built as a wedding gift to John R. Stinson and his bride, Sallie Callaway Stinson, after their marriage in 1875. Both the Stinson and Callaway families were pioneer Harrison County families. It is equally important that the house was owned by another prominent Marshall citizen, Mrs. Belle Fry Gaines, who lived in the house for almost seventy years.

John R. Stinson, born in Harrison County in 1849, was educated at a highly respected, private academy in Gilmer, Texas. He owned and operated his own mercantile establishment in Marshall until 1902 when he retired. He also served one term as mayor of Marshall.

Records indicate that Mrs. John R. Stinson's father, Joe Callaway, had the house built for her and her husband as a wedding present and that it was built by a contractor named Mr. Fortson. He also was the contractor on the house built for Mrs. Stinson's sister when she married several years later. There is very little available information about Mr. Fortson and it is unclear whether he was a citizen of Marshall or if he built other structures in the city. The Stinsons sold the house in 1909 to Mr. and Mrs. Walter D. Minton. Mrs. Minton was the former Isabelle "Belle" Fry, the youngest of seven children of Mr. and Mrs. E. J. Fry, who had lived since 1872 in the Fry Home (now designated the Fry-Barry House), located across the street at 301 W. Austin Street. Mrs. Minton obviously chose the Stinson house as her home so she would be near her parents.

Mrs. Minton married E. P. Gaines in 1923 after the death of her first husband. Gaines was a Texas Railroad Commission employee. He died only three years after their marriage. Mrs. Gaines opened an antique shop in the house in the 1930's. She continued to operate the prosperous business and live in the house until her death in 1978. She was 94 when she died. Since Mrs. Gaines lived in the house for so many years, it became known as the Belle Fry Gaines House. In 1959, she deeded the house to her daughters and it is presently for sale.