Historic Wichita Falls home restored

WICHITA FALLS, Texas (KAUZ) - A 100-year-old home in Wichita Falls has been restored to its former glory.

The original house on the Hammon Ranch was ready to be torn down before a group came together to rebuild it.

Dilts Construction saw the historic value in the house off of 287 and didn’t want to see it go. They worked for months to restore it, but not to build it into something new, rather to make it resemble the original house as much as possible.

“What we were trying to do is to stay as close as we can to that 1920s look,” Rikki Buxton, Operations Management for Dilts Construction, said. “The old wood floors to antiquing and finding the antique furniture and decorations to bring it back to life and give somebody the setting of the 1920s look.”

It has been decades since someone has lived in this historic home. It was all but ready to collapse in on itself because the interior structure was so damaged.

“Basically tore down everything from the inside out, from your frame and built it back from the ground up,” Buxton said. “All that was standing was the brick.”

It took more than six months for them to transform rubble into the former glory of this historical home.

“It is good for the city and the community because it shows that yes we care about the buildings we have, the history, and what our town looks like, so it is definitely a plus and a bonus,” Nadine McKown, site director for the Kell House Museum, said.

McKown said opportunities like this to restore a historical site in the area is big for the city, bring more people and revenue to town. She said it shows that the city of Wichita Falls values its history and that others that see this could follow suit.

“Absolutely, it is something that we encourage,” McKown said. “It is something that we hope people can see it with the Kell House but you can see it with private investment just the same. You see someone else do it and think they did that, why can’t I do that but you can.”

The historical home is done with construction and is now being listed on Airbnb. They hope people who visit will enjoy the restored home and value the history of the 100-year-old house.

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