Dogtrot House
The Beall-Ross home is a "dog trot" house built in 1884 by Robert Augustus Beall on a 200-acre tract of land in the Church Hill community. The house's architecture was typical in rural East Texas when it was built. The open hall down the middle provided a cool space in the hot summers for relaxation, for small children to play, process fruits and vegetables, visit with friends and neighbors, and even sleep on homemade down beds. It also provided an area of free access to the family canine, hence its folksy description as a "dog trot" or "dog run" house.
The house was built of rough hand-hewn boards and battens with box construction and a roof of wood shingles. The original structure was a basic L-shape with two large rooms in the front, one with a fireplace, and a large kitchen in the back. A porch extended across the front of the house from the middle of the two front rooms. The back porch was an extension of the open hall between the front rooms that formed the "dog trot." This was the house’s basic design and floor plan while the Beall family lived there from 1884 to 1899. When they moved into the house, Robert Beall and his wife, Ida Jane Peek, had three small children. Four more children were born in the house. Three Beall sons, Archie, Willie, and Robbie, opened the first Beall Brothers retail mercantile store in Henderson, Texas, in 1923. This family business gradually expanded into what is now the Beall’s Department Store chain, with stores throughout the south western United States.
1899, the house was sold to Jesse Ellick Ross, MD, and his wife, Mary Elizabeth Strong. Two years later, he sold the house and land to his brother, James Manning Ross, and his wife, Nettie Emily Brooks. They moved into the house with their five children. James immediately remodeled the house by adding a shed room behind one of the front rooms and a middle room between the other front room and the kitchen. He also cov ered the outside boards and batten with plank siding.
James could only enjoy his remodeled house for a few years when tragedy struck his household. Between August 1907 and March 1908, typhoid fever claimed his life as well as that of his wife and their youngest daughter. The remaining children continued to live in the house.
In 1913, the children divided the land. The youngest, Monnie M. Ross, received the tract on which the house was located. In 1915, Monnie moved his new bride, Maud Gertrude Findley, into the home and would live there for sixty-nine years. Seven of their eight children were born in the house.
During the long period the Monnie Ross family occupied the house, many additions and changes to the structure occurred. A fireplace was added to the other front room, a back porch was added to the outside door to the kitchen, and the back porch behind the front room was en closed to create another room. The "dog trot" area was screened in from the front porch to the rear of the house. The plank siding on the outside walls was painted, and the wooden shingles were replaced with galvanized tin. Most inside walls were covered with wallpaper, and some were eventually paneled. The floors were covered with area rugs, some of which were ultimately carpeted.
The house was first wired for electricity in 1939. Before the addition of indoor plumbing in 1947, the kitchen was serviced with running water by force gravity from a pipe connected to a large elevated barrel. This barrel was located beside a shallow well under the well shed some twenty-five yards behind the house. Running water in the kitchen required drawing water from the well by hand and pouring it into the barrel.
In 1989, Monnie Ross moved from the house after living in the house for eighty-seven years. Shortly after he moved, the house was donated to the Rusk County Historical Foundation and moved to the Depot Museum grounds.
The Beall-Ross house has been restored to its approximate condition as it existed around the turn of the twentieth century. This house has a Rusk County Historical Commission Marker.