 John D. Ourand John
D. Ourand was born in Walkersville, Frederick County, Maryland,
February 22, 1844, and was reared to the age of seventeen in his native
county. He was the son of David Aurand and Ann E. Walker. The
Ourands had two children: John D. Ourand and Thomas Walker Ourand.
By the early 1860s, John D. Ourand was in California. He enlisted in the spring of 1864 in the Federal army as a member of Company I, First California cavalry, and served till March 1866, doing out-post duty most of the time in the southern part of the State, and in Arizona. He entered as a private and came out as first lieutenant of his company. Mr. Ourand returned East in 1866, and after a visit of about two years among relatives in several of the Eastern States, he turned his face once more to the West, coming this time to Texas. He settled in Collin county in the spring of 1870, and for two years was on a farm. He next moved to Red River City, in Grayson, where he first engaged in mercantile pursuits. When it became evident by the centering of the railroad interests at Denison that that would be the town of Grayson county, Mr. Ourand moved to that place in 1874. Ourand purchased property at 109 West Main Street at auction in 1872 and put up a wooden structure, where he opened the Railroad Headquarters Saloon. In August 1879, he married Miss Jordie R. Burchfield, then of Grayson County, but a native of Arkansas, and her family originally from Tennessee. John and Jerdie had a daughter, Pearl (1881 - 1960). In 1881 they also built a landmark home at 106 West Sears Street.
Sunday, December 16, 1883 pg 4, col. 2 A HANDSOME AND COSTLY RESIDENCE Mr. John Ourand's brick residence, now nearing completion, will be the most costly and the best furnished edifice of the kind in the city. A reporter paid the location a visit last week, and took a few notes for the information of the many readers of the Gazetteer. The location is on Sears street, between Houston and Austin avenues. The building is nearly in the center of a plot which is one hundred and fifty feet square, and fronts north and east. The Sunday Gazetteer reported on February 3, 1884 that "John D. Ourand is now comfortably quartered in his palatial new brick residence on Sears street." This was the only Italian Villa style house in Grayson County with John Schott as architect. (The Sunday Gazetteer, Sunday, February 10, 1884, pg.4)
That
same year, John built the Ourand Hotel on the site of his bar at 109
West Main Street, and he opened his new Congress Hall Saloon on the
first floor. Upstairs were rooms for rent.
Source: “Denison, the Texas Gateway: A Busy, Progressive City with Golden Opportunities.” 16pp. Brochure. N.p.: N.d. [ca. 1908].
In 1891, the City Directory listed John as treasurer of the Denison Cemetery Association.
Fifteen years later, Ourand added the Electric Theatorium (the second movie theater to be opened in Denison) to his Ourand Hotel. The theater opened on December 22, 1906, to a roaring crowd of over 700 patrons. A short film, followed by a live performance, made up the initial program. The film showings were short-lived, however, and live shows took over after a few months. The Electric Theatorium ceased showing movies in March 1907, but live shows were mounted there for years. In 1898, John D. Ourand applied for a U.S. Army pension. On June 23, 1913, at age 79, he died. He was buried in Fairview Cemetery, Denison, along with his daughter Pearl, his wife Jordie E., and Jordie's mother, Eliza J. Birchfield. Jesse Cook bought the hotel in 1926 and renamed it the "Modern Hotel." Biography Index Susan Hawkins © 2024 If you find any of Grayson County TXGenWeb links inoperable, please send me a message. |
