The Texas Gulf Historical and Biographical Record, Volume 20, Number 1, November 1984 Page: 65
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THE BEAUMONT HERITAGE SOCIETY'S 65
FIRST RESTORATION TOUR (1984) REVISITED
including the shingled roof. The total cost was to be $2,000, paid to Wellman
in increments of $300 a week with the balance due when the building was
finished. Completion date was set for January 1, 1896. The site was to be
a lot that Sanders had purchased from W. A. Fletcher in 1886.24
The outside walls were of cypress. The house was decorated with pat-
terned shingles, and wood blocks were bent around the tower to imitate
stone. Windows that followed the contour of the tower incorporated
curved panes of glue-chip glass, surrounded by smaller rectangular panes
of colored glass. The single-door entrance was topped by an art glass tran-
som, with the letter "S" at the center of its design.
Inside the home, the tower housed a handsome spiral staircase, prob-
ably designed by Sanders. He had served an apprenticeship to a stair-builder
as a young man in Tennessee.25 Most of the downstairs rooms had carved
mantels, and the dining room featured a built-in china closet with a curved
glass front that slid out of sight for easy access to the items stored there.
Mr. Sanders built the circular stairs in the old First Baptist Church,
now Tyrrell Historical Library. He also carved a pulpit for the Methodist
Church, now First United Methodist Church. The pulpit, supposedly made
of wood from a chinaberry tree blown down in the 1886 hurricane, still is
in the church's possession, in the Cornerstone Heritage Center.26
After Mr. Sanders' death in 1916, his widow, Ida May Sanders, lived
on in the house until about 1927, when she moved into the home of her
daughter, Pearl Sanders Bahlman. Several years ago, Mrs. Bahlman died
in a fire at her home on Broadway, and some of the furniture that Mr.
Sanders had made was destroyed in that fire.
Barbara and Alan McNeill now own the house. They have restored it,
bringing to life the beautiful wood floors and the curly pine wainscoting
that begins in the tower and halls and continues in the dining room. Some
of the furnishings displayed by the McNeills were made by Mr. Sanders.
These include two beautiful bookcases, one dated 1911; a marble top table;
and a picture made of shells, created by Mr. Sanders for the Jirou family
who once were his neighbors. Mr. McNeills' law offices are located in the
building, as are the offices of Gordy and Huffhines, an architectural firm.
24Mortgage and Lien Records, Vol. 4, pp. 93-94, Jefferson County Courthouse.
25Ann Abshier, "Master Craftsman's Home on Pine Featured Delicate Trim," Beaumont
Journal, April 28, 1961, p. 12.
26A history is affixed to the storage door of the pulpit. Mr. Sanders was assisted in this pro-
ject by more than forty other men.Nov. 19841
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Texas Gulf Historical Society. The Texas Gulf Historical and Biographical Record, Volume 20, Number 1, November 1984, periodical, November 1984; Beaumont, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1433655/m1/67/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Gulf Historical Society.