A.W. Perry Homestead Sesquicentennial Barn - 1986 - Carrollton, TX
N 32° 57.525 W 096° 53.805
14S E 696586 N 3648678
Built for the Texas Sesquicentennial in 1986, this barn nicely complements the A.W. Perry Homestead, which was dedicated to the City of Carrollton for America's Bicentennial ten years earlier.
Waymark Code: WM12EHB
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 05/10/2020
Views: 1
Toyia Pointer's "Carrollton," in Arcadia's
Images of America series, has a photo of the barn with the tools and implements that are stored inside. Pointer relates that the barn was built for the Texas Sesquicentennial to complement the Perry farmhouse using salvaged beams from local barns that had been razed in the pursuit of progress. This is a Monitor Barn (aka "Raised Roof Barn") that used traditional mortise-and-tenon construction to join the posts. Complementing multiple single doors are a set of double doors in the center, and there does appear to be a loft. Next to one of the single doors is a bronze plaque from November 8, 1986, dedicating this "turn-of-the-century barn" to the citizens of Carrollton, with the emblem of the Texas Sesquicentennial and "Texas Independence Community Carrollton" along with a list of those who helped to make the project a reality.
The 1976 Texas Historical Marker in front of the Perry farmhouse provides some background:
In 1844 Alexander Wilson Perry (1819-1904) and his wife Sarah (Huffman) (1824-1896) migrated from Illinois to Texas to join the Peters Colony. They purchased this land from Joshua B. Lee, another pioneer settler, and built a simple frame house here in the late 1850s. The Perrys had eight children who grew to adulthood. The family donated land for Union Baptist Church, Perry Cemetery, a school, and railroad right-of-way.
When the Perry property was divided in 1904, one son DeWitt Clinton Perry (1856-1930) received this portion containing the family home. In 1909 he dismantled the old structure and used some of the lumber and stone to build this one-and-a-half story residence. A central hallway divides the interior, and ornate columns support the wrap-around porch. Behind the house stand cedar trees that once shaded the front of the pre-Civil War dwelling.
Frances Grimes (Mrs. DeWitt) Perry (1866-1967) occupied the residence until her death just before her 101st birthday. In 1975 her daughter Pearl (Mrs. William A.) Gravley gave the house and ten acres of surrounding property to the City of Carrollton for use as a museum and park. Volunteers from the community restored the structure in 1975-76.
The A.W. Perry Homestead is a twelve acre park centered around the Perry home, donated here in 1975 in anticipation of the upcoming Bicentennial. Admission is free, and tours of the home are available at 11 AM and 1 PM, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday, or by appointment. The docent is very knowledgeable about both the house and local history. Visitors are free to walk the grounds and enjoy the trails -- there is even a Little Free Library here -- but they ask that there be quiet in that area. Those who are a little more noisy and active can have plenty of fun around the barn, the windmill, and the old farmhouse footprint that is just behind the current house.