Samuel May Williams House facts for kids
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Samuel May Williams House
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Samuel May Williams House in 2012
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 Samuel May Williams House
Location in Texas
Samuel May Williams House
Location in the United States
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| Location | 3601 Ave. P, Galveston, Texas |
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| Area | 0.7 acres (0.28 ha) |
| Built | 1837 |
| Architectural style | Greek Revival |
| NRHP reference No. | 71000934 |
Quick facts for kids Significant dates |
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| Added to NRHP | July 14, 1971 |
The Samuel May Williams House is a historic home in Galveston, Texas. It is one of the oldest houses still standing in Galveston. Today, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This means it is a special place recognized for its history.
The house was built in 1839 for Samuel May Williams. He was one of the people who helped start the city of Galveston. This house was quite special because it was a prefabricated house. This means it was built in pieces somewhere else and then shipped to Galveston from Maine. Workers then put it together on ten strong piers, raising it 7 feet (2.1 m) off the ground.
The house has one and a half stories and a small tower called a cupola on top. Samuel May Williams put a telescope in this cupola. He used it to see ships coming into the harbor. This way, he could be one of the first to know what goods were arriving. After Williams passed away in 1858, his friend Phillip C. Tucker bought the house. For many years, it was known as the Tucker House. The Tucker family owned it until 1953.
Later, the Galveston Historic Foundation (GHF) bought the house. This was their first big project to save historic buildings. The house was opened to the public as a museum in 1959. In the late 1970s, it was restored to look like it did when Williams lived there. Regular tours started in 1984. However, fewer people visited over time, so the museum closed in 2007. The house was then used for interior design shows and offered for rent. It was lucky to survive Hurricane Ike in 2008 without much damage.
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Who Was Samuel May Williams?
Samuel May Williams moved to what was then Mexican Texas in 1822. He quickly became the secretary for Stephen F. Austin. Austin was a very important person who brought many American settlers to Texas.
During the Texas Revolution (1835–1836), Williams and his business partner, Thomas F. McKinney, helped the Texian Army. They spent their own money to buy supplies for the soldiers. Williams even bought the first ship for the Texas Navy, a schooner named the Invincible.
After the war, Texas won its independence from Mexico. It became its own country, called the Republic of Texas. Between 1836 and 1838, Williams and McKinney worked with Michel Branamour Menard to create a new city. They got permission to start the Galveston City Company on the eastern part of Galveston Island.
In 1838, Williams became one of the company's directors. The new city of Galveston grew very fast. By 1840, it had over 4,000 people. Galveston was an island, so it was a bit isolated. There was no bridge to the mainland, and fresh water had to be brought in by ship every day.
Building the Williams House
In late 1838, Samuel May Williams was elected to the Texas Congress. He asked his partner, McKinney, to oversee the building of his family's new home. Like many wealthy people in Galveston, Williams wanted to live near the water. His large 22 acres (8.9 ha) property was located near McKinney's Bayou.
Williams had ordered a prefabricated house from Maine. This house was built in the Greek Revival style. This style often features grand columns and a classic look, similar to old Greek temples. To protect the house from storms, it was built 7 feet (2.1 m) high on ten brick piers. The bricks for these piers were brought to Galveston on ships as heavy ballast.
The house had one and a half stories. On top, it featured a cupola and a widow's walk. A widow's walk is a small platform on the roof, often with a railing. The first floor had long porches, and the attic had dormer windows. The windows in the cupola could be opened. This allowed cool ocean breezes to flow through the house. The house faced east and had large porches on both the south and east sides.
Downstairs, there was a parlor, a dining room, a central hallway, and two bedrooms. The parlor and front bedroom had French doors that opened onto the porch. Upstairs, there were four smaller bedrooms, each with a dormer window. Strong wooden columns held up the porch roof. A white picket fence surrounded the house. A separate brick kitchen was located behind the house. On each side of the house, there were 10 acres (4.0 ha) garden plots. Williams estimated that his house cost about $7,472 to build.
Life in the Williams Home
For the next 20 years, Samuel May Williams lived in the house with his wife and children. Williams often spent time on the widow's walk. At that time, Galveston Island had few trees or tall buildings. From the widow's walk, Williams could see the Gulf of Mexico. He could also watch horse races at a nearby track he co-owned.
He put a telescope on the widow's walk, pointing it towards the harbor. Ships would flash signals as they got close to land. These signals told the harbormaster what kind of cargo they were carrying. Williams used his telescope to see these signals early. If a ship had interesting goods, he would quickly go downtown to start trading. This gave him an advantage over other merchants. Because of this smart move, his business, McKinney & Williams, became one of the richest and most important in Texas.
As Williams became wealthier, he made his home even nicer. He had portraits painted of himself and his wife. These were hung in the parlor. In a stable behind the house, he kept two horses, a carriage, and a fancy barouche (a type of carriage). The family also had four enslaved people who lived in separate buildings near the kitchen.
Samuel May Williams passed away in the house on September 13, 1858. His funeral was held there a few days later.
The Tucker Family Takes Over
In 1859, Williams' children sold the house to a family friend, Philip C. Tucker. From then on, it was known as the Tucker House. That same year, Galveston got train service to the mainland. People could travel by train to Houston three times a week.
In the 1890s, a fire damaged the house. It destroyed the cupola and some parts of the second floor. The house also survived the terrible 1900 Galveston Hurricane. This storm caused huge damage to the island. After the storm, the Williams House was the second-oldest house still standing on the island. During the city's rebuilding, the ground level of Galveston was raised. About 4 feet (1.2 m) of sand was pumped under the house. This made its piers look shorter, as if they were only 3 feet (0.91 m) tall.
Saving the Historic House
In the 1950s, Galveston began to change. City leaders wanted to attract tourists in new ways. This led to more interest in saving historic buildings. The Galveston Historic Foundation (GHF) was started around this time. Its main goal was to save the Williams house.
The GHF received money from the Moody Foundation to help restore the house. This foundation was created by William Lewis Moody, Jr. to support education, science, and health in Texas. Its leader, Mary Moody Northen, was very interested in saving historic places. The GHF restored the house, and it opened to the public in 1959. In 1971, the house was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
After restoring the Williams house, the GHF worked on other historic buildings in Galveston. The GHF became one of the biggest groups in the United States focused on saving local history. Their work on the Williams house helped lead to the restoration of the Strand Historic District. This is a famous commercial area near the harbor.
The House as a Museum
When it first opened, the museum was filled with items that people had donated. In 1978, the GHF did a lot of research. They wanted to know exactly how the house looked when Williams lived there. The house was then restored to its 1854 appearance, and the cupola was rebuilt. It reopened for regular tours in 1984. In the 1980s, about 25,000 people visited the museum each year.
For a while, the museum used new technology to tell its story. But as technology changed, the museum found it hard to keep up. New audiovisual systems are expensive, and like most historic house museums, the Williams house had a limited budget.
In 2004, the house got new landscaping. Plants like oleanders, daylilies, and hibiscus were moved from the Hotel Galvez to the house's grounds.
However, fewer and fewer people visited. In the first nine months of 2007, only about 1,000 visitors came. The money from tickets was not enough to pay for the house's upkeep. So, the museum closed for good at the end of September 2007.
After the Museum Closed
After closing as a museum, the house was used by the Texas Gulf Coast Chapter of the American Society of Interior Designers. They used it as a showcase for interior design. Designers worked for free, and businesses donated materials worth about $100,000. The redesigned house now has wood floors and beautiful colors like blues, roses, and gold. The furniture is a mix of old pieces, some that belonged to the Williams family, and modern items. The old theater room was turned into a kitchen, and the bathroom was updated with antique fixtures.
After the design showcase, the GHF offered the house for rent. People who rented the house would also act as curators. They would need to open the house or its grounds to the public sometimes. This was a new idea for a historic building with a newly designed inside. The house had very little damage during Hurricane Ike in September 2008.
In 2016, the GHF sold the house to Leah and Mariano Garcia-Blanco. They are now working to restore the inside of this important home.
Lasting Importance
In 2007, Dwayne Jones, who was the head of the GHF, said how important the house was. He said it was important not just for Galveston and Texas history, but also for their organization. He explained that the house inspired many people in Galveston to start the GHF. This group has grown to be the largest local historic preservation group in the country. It has had a big impact on the community.
Some people say the house is haunted by Samuel May Williams himself. Visitors have reported feeling a cold draft and a strange presence near the children's bedrooms.
A copy of the house was built in the Woodlands, a town near Houston, in the early 2000s. A homebuilder chose six historic Texas houses and built fancy copies of them in one neighborhood. The outside of the copy looks almost exactly like the original Williams house. However, the inside was designed to be more modern.
