Grayson County TXGenWeb

First Brick House

Denison Public Library, originally the Munson homestead, is unlikely to be the first brick residence nor the first two-story brick residence. It has been identified in various places as being first in both categories. The Denison Public Library's website, for example, says it was "the first brick house" in town. The newspaper clipping below shows that The Sunday Gazetteer reported in 1901 that W. B. Munson announced in the week ending July 24, 1873, his " intention" to build the house.

The Sunday Gazetteer
Sunday, August 25, 1901
pg. 3

EARLY DAYS IN DENISON
Week Ending July 24, 1873

W.B. Munson announced that he would build a two-story brick residence corner of Gandy street and Rusk avenue, the building which he now occupies.

However, by the time W. B. Munson made the announcement of his intention, at least two other brick houses, both of them two-story, were already under construction, if not completed. A Denison Daily News report from July 3, 1873, that N. C. Taylor was building his "two-story brick residence in the west end" (i.e., corner of Sears and Barrett). Another Gazetteer report (below) from 1901 says that F. R. Brown broke ground for a two-story brick residence on Gandy Street in the week ending June 26, 1873.

The Sunday Gazetteer
July 28, 1901
pg. 3

EARLY DAYS IN DENISON
Week Ending June 26, 1873

F.R. Brown broke ground for his two-story brick residence on Gandy street. This was the first brick residence in Denison. Kilgore did the stone and brick work and Murphy the woodwork.

A third clipping, from The Denison Press in 1937, says that Mr. and Mrs. Peter Linn "erected the first brick home in the city." They supposedly built it in the fall of 1872. The 1876-77 Denison City Directory lists their residence on the west side of Austin Avenue between Gandy and Sears streets. The 1888 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map shows a brick house on the corner of Austin and Sears--two-story.
"Mrs. Peter Linn, who resided east of here one and a half miles is a pioneer. Mr. and Mrs. Linn made the first brick in Denison and erected the first brick home in the city. That was in the fall of 1872. Pete Linn died long since, but Mrs. Linn still works her farm and will bring to the Denison market this year ten bales of cotton."

Williamson Burton Simpson says that he "built the first brick residence erected in Denison." It was "at the foot of Gandy Street" near the M-K-T yards. The 1876-77 Denison City Directory lists Simpson on the north side of Gandy between Houston and Lamar. Later directories and maps show the address as 113 E. Gandy. On the 1930 fire map the wooden front porch and a wooden addition on the back had been stripped away. The remaining two-story brick structure was in commercial use by the Southern Ice Company.

The Dallas Morning News
Saturday, January 17, 1925
part 2, pg.20

MANO WHO BUILT FIRST BRICK HOUSE IN DENISON IS DEAD
By The Associated Press.

Clarksville, Tennessee., January 16 - William Laprade Killebrew, 69, native of Robertson County, Tennessee, and widely known throughout the South in connection with levee construction along the Mississippi River, died at his home in St. Louis of pneumonia here. He attended West Point and while a contractor, assisted by his brother, J.D. Killebrew, now dead, is said to have built the first brick house in Denison, Texas, the two carrying and laying the brick unassisted.