Smith Home

215 East Josephine Street

 

The home was built in 1879 by Joshua Soule Smith and his wife, Carrie.  The lot was originally one and one-half acres and a part of an 1839 land grant of 640 acres to Azariah Brakeen, an immigrant, from the Republic of Texas.  Mr. and Mrs. Smith moved to Weatherford before Texas and Pacific Railroad was built into the city.

Mr. Smith was born in Alabama in 1842, and served in the Confederate Army under General Joe Wheeler, who fought battles in Alabama, Tennessee and at Shiloh, Mississippi.  He married Carrie Holston after the war and eventually moved to Weatherford where they raised seven children.  Mr. Smith established a mercantile business on the square and prospered.  It is said that he never turned anyone away from his store because they could not pay.

 

Mrs. Smith was “an outstanding member of the community,” serving as a Director of the Junior League for seventeen years, serving her church as Director of Sunday School, Choir Director, and Organist.  She provided a scholarship to educate nine Chinese girls.  The Smith’s were kind, giving people who were always ready to help others.  Each lived into their late 80’s and is buried in the historic City Greenwood Cemetery.  The family continued to live in the home for nearly 70 years.

 

The home has three bedrooms, two baths, formal dining, music room, parlor, morning room and sun porch with ten and eleven foot ceilings.  Many original characteristics are present, including the wood siding, light fixtures (1900-1910), French doors, wooden flooring, ornate wood trim, and four fireplaces with a single chimney.

 

In 1964 Weatherford College purchased the house for the President’s house and later sold it to the Baptist Student Union.

 

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