This house was believed to be the oldest remaining house in Bellville prior to moving it to the ranch. It was moved in 2000 from Austin Street in Bellville and was scheduled to be demolished by the Bellville United Methodist Church who had used it as their youth house.

According to appraisal district records, this house was built in 1869 and a local historian remembers as a child seeing the house moved from another location in Bellville in the early 1900’s.

The house is a typical German style construction with a center hall with single door on each surrounded by glass paneled sidelights and transoms. A large room opened off either side of the center hall. Ceilings were 12 feet tall and the all wood construction featured longleaf pine floors, wood paneled ceilings and walls. Fireplaces were originally located on either end of the house for heating but were removed in later years. The mantle, though closed in, remains in the living room. The house was a “single wall” construction which made moving difficult and required the house be completely reinforced and stabilized in order to move.

Due to the single wall construction, air leaks were a problem and during a prior restoration, sheet rock was added to the walls to insulate and protect it from the elements. A large room was added to the back which was used as a kitchen area and antique longleaf pine barn wood was used to panel the walls. This back room has now been converted into a “cowboy” bedroom and bath with an oversized jacuzzi tub and pedestal sink.

Since the house was used by the youth of the church, the inside had been signed and painted by almost every teenager in Bellville and was quite a work of art. As a result, it was thought that none of the original German paint could be found and restored. Luckily, the wood floors had been covered in plywood and carpeted years earlier, and after removing the carpeting and plywood, the original painted wood floors in the living area were uncovered and restored. They were painted in a mustard color over maroon that was typical of the German painting techniques.

The house now has a covered front porch that runs almost the length of the house. A picket fence surrounds it and a back deck was added that overlooks the covered arena, log cabin and grove of oak trees in the meadow behind the house.