Grierson-Sproul House

The Grierson-Sproul House is a good example of a stone masonry vernacular residence of the early twentieth century in Fort Davis. B. H. Grierson, Jr., a well-known local investor and rancher, built the house in 1908 during Fort Davis' single construction boom. After another brief ownership and a near-disastrous fire in 1912, county sheriff and prominent rancher Franklin Lee Sproul bought and rebuilt the house in 1914. During his occupancy, the house was an important hub of local social activity, at a time when a small closely knit group of families worked ranches of thousands of acres each, in a desolate and sparsely populated region.

The Grierson-Sproul House is located on the western end of Fort Davis, a town steeped in the military and pioneering history of West Texas. The town, established concurrently with the military outpost in 1854, became the major supply headquarters in the area for army personnel as well as for the newly established large ranches. As such, Fort Davis was an extremely important township in the Trans-Pecos area of s.

The town never expanded much, due to the lack of surface water, but it did experience a brief building spree in the early 1900's when Fort Davis became the county seat of Jeff Davis County. The period left an indelible mark on the appearance of the town. Many important buildings, both public and private, were constructed in a characteristic, vernacular style with rusticated native pink limestone finishes. These structures include the Limpia Hotel, the bank building, the Oddfellow Hall, the County Courthouse, and several private residences, as well as the Grierson-Sproul House.

The Grierson-Sproul House is one of a very small number of early twentieth-century, stone residences in the town of Fort Davis. When originally completed in 1908, the house was built in the tradition of the military architectural style of the fort itself, (a National Historic Landmark), and the house closely resembled several buildings in the compound. Therefore, the Grierson-Sproul House represents an important link in the close association of the city with the fort...

B. H. Grierson, Jr., son of a military commander at Fort Davis and a large property owner in his own right, built this stone house in 1908. He was something of a local anomaly. Besides being a noted marksman with both pistol and rifle, Grierson also made fine musical instruments and had a local reputation as an artist. However, he sold the house with its windmill water tank and garage to Claude Smith in May 1912.

Soon after Smith's purchase of the house, a fire destroyed much of the wood structure, and in 1914 it was sold to Franklin Lee Sproul, a prominent local rancher and apple grower. Sproul directed the repairs and is responsible for the changes in the original structure. For nineteen years, from the time he was elected sheriff of the county in 1914 until his murder in 1933, Sproul and his family lived in the house. Both Mr. and Mrs. Sproul were vital parts of the small coterie of ranching families of the county, and their lives were closely woven into the area's social and political life. Mrs. Sproul participated in many local social activities, including reading and cultural clubs, some of which met at the Sproul home. Even after Mr. Sproul's death in 1933, Mrs. Sproul filled out his term of office as sheriff and was elected for another term in 1934.

The house, though unoccupied for a number of years, remained in the Sproul family until 1979 when it was purchased by the present owners, Mr. and Mrs. Elbert F. Basshan, who are actively involved in preserving the house.