Marker Inscription
Architecture, Invention
Historic Place
Wilson, Ralph, Sr., and Sunny, House
The landmarks the nation chose to remember.
About this site
Wilson, Ralph, Sr., and Sunny, House is a historic place in Temple, Bell County, dedicated in 1998. It is one of 51 historic places documented in Bell County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas, among 411 historic sites cataloged across the county.
The site sits at 31.0883, -97.3806 near Temple. The nearest cataloged historic site is Hodge Cemetery (historical marker), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include Dennis, Joseph, Site of 1920's Factory of the Temple Monoplane, and Lake Polk Park.
This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #2098001374. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.
History
Ralph Wilson Sr., founder of Wilsonart (originally Ralph Wilson Plastics), built this house in Temple in 1959 as a model home and living laboratory for his plastic-laminate products. Laminate was used experimentally throughout the house, including on kitchen and bath cabinets, shower stalls, and walls, and the doorless garage let Wilson test product durability outdoors. It was his residence until his death in 1972, was restored to its 1959 appearance in the late 1990s, and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998. It now serves as an interpretive museum on laminate.
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Nearby in Bell County
Historical Marker
Hodge Cemetery
Temple · 1985
Historical Marker
Dennis, Joseph
Temple · 1984
Historical Marker
Site of 1920's Factory of the Temple Monoplane
Temple · 1970
Historical Marker
Lake Polk Park
Temple · 1991
Historical Marker
King's Daughters Hospital
Temple · 1998
Historical Marker
King's Daughters Hospital School of Nursing
Temple · 1998
Historical Marker
Former Site of Scott & White School of Nursing
Temple · 1997
Historical Marker
Claudia Potter, M.D.
Temple · 1997