#GHFHERITAGEATRISK 1857 NICHOLSTONE HOUSE 5000 Park Avenue, Dickinson, Texas Ebenezar Nichols was born in 1815, in Cooperstown, New York. After traveling to Texas with a load of lumber in 1838, Nichols settled in Houston, where he entered into a partnership with William M. Rice, forming Rice and Nichols, dealers in dry goods, groceries, hardware and crockery at the wholesale and retail level. Nichols moved to Galveston in 1850, around the same time a settlement called Dickinson was established on Dickinson’s Bayou, in the northwest corner of Galveston County. The Galveston, Houston and Henderson Railroad, one of the earliest chartered in Texas, built straight through the new community of Dickinson, and in 1857, Nichols, one of the directors of the GH&H Railroad, built a summer estate on Dickinson Bayou. When built in 1857, NICHOLSTONE was a one-story frame structure with a center hall. After Nichols’ death in 1872, his estate was divided among his seven sons, one of whom bought the one story house and surrounding property. In 1895, the structure was remodeled to include a second story with a balcony adorned with Victorian design elements including fretwork and a cupola. NICHOLSTONE is currently owned and occupied by General Nichols great-great granddaughter, who has maintained and utilized the house over the years. It is the oldest existing residence in the community of Dickinson and is in danger of being lost to the elements of the Gulf Coast climate. *Each year, Galveston Historical Foundation asks the public for nominations to the “Heritage at Risk” list of historic sites and properties in Galveston County. Houses on the list are at risk of being lost due to damage, neglect or proposed development.
Posted on: Mon, 22 Sep 2014 18:58:10 +0000
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