700 E. Rusk, Marshall
Current Owner: Ezequiel Solache & Irene Solache Santander
Sanborn Maps
- Marshall 1894, Block 7, Lot 1
- Marshall 1899, Block 13, Lot 1
- Marshall 1904, Block 13, Lot 1
- Marshall 1909, Block 11, Lot 1
- Marshall 1915, Block 15, Lot 1
TX Historical Marker
The Fraley-Garland House became a TX Historical Landmark in 1986.Architectural Survey
• Description: The 1881 Fraley-Garland house is a two-story Colonial Revival home. The structure has a double porch; the lower porch is supported by four Greek Ionic columns, and the upper porch features a spindle work along the railing. The front façade contains three bays and a single door entrance with a transom and sidelights. A left bay window is a focal point along the front side of the house along with decorative screen work windows on the second story.
• Significance: The Fraley-Garland house is enveloped in fascinating history that involves many old family names in Marshall, and is also an example of Greek Revival architecture with Colonial Revival features such as the hipped roof and the spindled balustrade. This house also reveals the shift towards Colonial Revival architecture throughout Harrison County.
Historical Background
The Fraley-Garland house was completed in 1896 for Clinton Virgil Fraley, despite legal issues concerning the manner in which the materials were purchased for the home. (More details can be found in the Texas Historical Marker File). After joining the Confederate Army and being contained as a prisoner in the Rock Island Prison Barracks by Union troops during the Civil War, he arrived in Marshall in 1866. According to research that was submitted for the Texas Historical Marker, Fraley was married and divorced before 1880, although there is no definite research revealing when and to whom he married. His second marriage to Laura A. Hitchcock 1880 is well documented within in historical records and the Marshall Newspaper. The deed to the property where the home is located was given as a wedding gift to Laura from her mother Mrs. Carrie F. Rundle. (Harrison County Deed Records, Vol. 13, Pg. 180, filed May 17, 1881) After the death of Laura A. Fraley in 1895 and her mother Carrie F. Rundle in 1896, the property was left to Clinton and Laura's six year old son, Edward Dial Fraley. Clinton though was left with a substantial amount of money and property holdings, and it was with those funds that he supposedly used to build the present dwelling known as the Fraley-Garland house.
There were no records as to where Laura's inheritance went towards, and many sources speculate that Clinton Fraley gambled the money away. Therefore, the completion of the home was followed by several law suits from lumber companies that claimed they never saw payment for the materials. (Lawsuit #9430, Harrison County Courthouse, District Clerk's Office, Logan and Whaley; Marshall Lumber Company vs. Clinton Virgil Fraley et al, January 15, 1897).
In 1903, Clinton Fraley deeded the home and property to his son Edward, whom was the rightful heir according to Laura Fraley's will. Edward and his wife Yrma Leah Burrows, lived in the home with their infant son, Edward Dial Fraley, Jr. until 1907, when they sold the house to Wiley E. and Edna Garland. (Harrison County Deed Records, Vol. 70, Pg. 425, filed January 3, 1907). The Garlands purchased the home to use as a boardinghouse. During their ownership the home went through several remodeling processes. The kitchen was joined to the house, the back porch was enclosed, the indoor staircase was removed and placed outside, and the upstairs was transformed into six separate bedrooms.
After Wiley Garland died in 1942, Edna Garland continued to run the boardinghouse until she died in 1975 at age ninety-eight. After Mrs. Garland's death, the house was sold to Bill and Jackie Barnett, (Harrison County Deed Records, Vol. 778, Pg. 77, filed November 26, 1975) but when Bill Barnett died a year later, the house was once again sold to Carolyn Ratcliff. Although she only owned the house for a year, she made many of the major changes to the house, tearing down all the outbuildings, adding electric stoves, adding closets, enclosing the back staircase, and modernizing the kitchen and bathrooms. Deed records show that the house changed hands seven more times before the current owners purchased the home in 2010. As of 2013, Santander Ezequiel and Irene Solache own the home.
