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BELTON — A ninety-year old home which has adapted to modern use without losing its original charm was the recipient of a Texas Historical Marker during ceremonies Sunday, December 18, 1983.
Dedication of the marker at the Ele B. Baggett house, 1019 N. Main, was sponsored by the Bell county Historical Commission and the house’s present owners, Maj. and Mrs. Robert Kimball.
Kimball, who has lived in the house for more than one year, said it has taken that much time to get certification for the marker from the Texas Historical Commission. In the process of getting the house recognized as a historical site, Kimball traced the history of the residence back to its construction in 1893.
The Kimballs—Robert, his wife Vyone and their two children—have continued the restoration process started by former owners of the house, which is a pine and cypress structure fashioned in the Queen Anne Victorian style.
But rather than modernize it, the Kimballs have sought to retain the historic quality of their home.
Kimball, an Army Major at Fort Hood, said modernization can “destroy the character of a home.” On the other hand, “It can deteriorate very quickly if you don’t use a lot of tender loving care,” he said.
Retaining the original character is also important in getting sanction for a marker from the Historical Commission, he said, even though he had to purchase the marker himself.
Rebekah Farrar of Dublin, a great-granddaughter of Ele Baggett and his wife, Mary Carolyn Butts Baggett, recited a history of the house during the dedication ceremony.
Baggett, a Bell County rancher and businessman of the late nineteenth century, designed the house as a mirror image of the house across the street, the residence of his father, Silas Baggett.
In 1908, J. M. Jarrell, a general store owner from Granger, bought the house. He and his wife Alma lived there until 1925.
In 1927, the Forace B. Russell family moved in the house and remained until 1952.
Sam Street owned the house for eight months and sold it with part of Lot 3 to Myrtle H. Ballard, widow of Dr. A. C. Ballard, a long-time medical doctor in Belton.
After the death of Mrs. Ballard on 21 August 1965, her stepdaughter, Jessie Mae Eads, and her husband, George, purchased the two-thirds interest of her two half-brothers and took full ownership in June of 1966.
Eads sold the house to Warren T. and Elizabeth Townsend on 16 May 1975, and on 15 June 1979, W. T. Townsend sold the house to Michael and Linda Lanning and moved to Killeen.
The house was sold to Robert H. and Vyone P. Kimball, who bought the house on 18 June 1982 and moved from Tacoma, Washington. Kimball was a United States Army Major and was stationed at Fort Hood, but had been a Belton resident from 1972 to 1974. The house passed from them to another family who lived there for several years. The house is now owned by the Lastovica family.
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