Marker Inscription
Military, Politics/Government, Architecture, Communications
Historic Place
Smathers-Demorse House
The landmarks the nation chose to remember.
About this site
Smathers-Demorse House is a historic place in Clarksville, Red River County, dedicated in 1976. It is one of 106 historic sites cataloged in Red River County in the Texas Historical Commission Atlas.
The site sits at 33.6128, -95.0495 near Clarksville. The nearest cataloged historic site is Col. Charles DeMorse Home (historical marker), about under a tenth of a mile away. Others within a short drive include Northern Standard Homesite, Five Signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence from Red River County, and Red River County Courthouse.
This record corresponds to Texas Historical Commission Atlas #2076002060. Use the map below for its exact position and turn-by-turn directions.
History
The Smathers-DeMorse House in Clarksville is regarded as the oldest home in Clarksville and Red River County, beginning as a two-room log cabin built in 1833 by Isaac Smathers with the help of town founder James Clark. In 1842 it passed to Charles DeMorse, founder and publisher of the Northern Standard and often called the "Father of Texas Journalism," who enlarged it into a Greek Revival cottage by adding a second story, enclosing the dogrun as a central hall and building hipped porticos. It is an exceptional example of the transformation of a pioneer log cabin into a Greek Revival home, a pattern common across antebellum East Texas.
Sources: sah-archipedia.orgredrivercoc.comredriverhistorian.com
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Nearby in Red River County
Historical Marker
Col. Charles DeMorse Home
Clarksville · 1962
Historical Marker
Northern Standard Homesite
Clarksville · 1936
Historical Marker
Five Signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence from Red River County
Clarksville · 2009
Historical Marker
Stevenson, William
Clarksville · 1972
Historical Marker
Confederate Congresses
Clarksville · 1965
Historical Marker
Stagecoach Stand, C. S. A.
Clarksville · 1964
Courthouse
Red River County Courthouse
Clarksville · 1884
Historical Marker
Red River County Jail
Clarksville · 1983