1838 Michel B. Menard House

In 1838, when Galveston was a new town with just a small number of buildings, the materials for this home probably arrived here from Maine as ship's ballast, a common practice in that day. The house, built from these imported materials, is in the Greek Revival style, the most popular architectural style of the day. This style flourished in America in the 1830's and 1840's. The Greek Revival style expressed the idea that America, with its democratic ideals, was the spiritual successor to ancient Greece. By 1842, Greek “temples” were found in churches, homes, banks, and courthouses from New England to the frontiers of New York and Ohio.

The characteristics of Greek Revival architecture are columns, pilasters, bold simple moldings on exterior and interior, pedimented gables, heavy cornices with unadorned friezes, and horizontal transoms above entrances. Gone were the arched entrances and fan lights of the earlier Federal style. Most Greek Revival houses were painted white because it was not then known that ancient Greeks painted the white marble of their buildings.

Note the symmetry of the door and window openings and the placement of the two later flanking wings to the north and south. This symmetry is a tenet of Greek Revival architecture. The columns are fluted with Ionic capitals and adorned with egg-and-dart moldings. The windows are triple-sash and double hung, allowing free access to the porch and balconies as well as increasing air circulation throughout the house.

The house was built by Michel Branamour Menard, a founder of Galveston. The property passed between Menard and the Allen brothers (founders of Houston) in many complicated dealings in the early years of the house. Menard was born near Montreal in 1805 and entered the fur trading company of John Jacob Astor at the age of 14. About 1823 he joined his well-to-do uncle Pierre Menard, a merchant and territorial Lieutenant Governor of Illinois. Here at Kaskaskia, he learned polite manners and some English. He became a trader to a band of Shawnee for his uncle's trading house, Menard and Valle, and moved with the tribe to northeastern Arkansas and then to the Red River above Natchitoches. By 1829 Menard visited Nacogodoches and met Thomas McKinney, the partner of Sam Williams. He began speculating in Texas land in 1833. Land in Texas could only be granted to Mexican-born citizens. He did this with the help of an acquaintance by the name of Juan Seguin, a Mexican who would fight under Sam Houston at the battle of San Jacinto. Seguin applied for a headright of one league and labor (4,605 acres) on behalf of Menard in 1833. Menard specified that the land be at the eastern end of Galveston Island. This claim was confirmed on December 9, 1836 and the Galveston City Company was created. The city was mapped out and lots were sold.

In his personal life, Menard lived a series of tragedies. His bride, Dianne LeClere of St. Louis, died of cholera en route to Texas in 1833. In 1837 he married a cousin, Catherine Maxwell of Kaskaskia, and began building a house on the island, perhaps this house on 33rd street. Catherine died of childbed fever the following summer. The bereaved man seems to have sold parts of his property to A.C. and J.K. Allen, perhaps to clear a debt.

Menard married for a third time in 1843, having regained his house through purchases made by his cousin Peter, who deeded the tract to the new Mrs. Menard. This was done to protect the property from creditors during hard times. During this time, the wings were probably added to the house. Menard's third wife, Mary Jane Clemens Riddle Menard, formerly of St. Louis, lived in the house only four years before her death at age 33 in December 1847. Within two years, Menard took a fourth wife, a widow, Rebecca Mary Bass. She was a native of Georgia who had two daughters, Helen and Clara, whom Menard adopted. In 1850, Rebecca bore him his only son, Doswell, who was named for Menard's Galveston Business associate, J. Temple Doswell. Menard died in the house in 1856 at the age of 51, from a
cancer on his back. His widow remarried, but his son inherited the house.

At the time of the house's construction, the building was well outside of town. Lots outside the dirt and smell of the city were thought to be much healthier. Surrounding the Menard property were estates of some of the most powerful men in Galveston and Texas: Sam Williams, Gale Borden, Thomas Borden, and Thomas McKinney. Menard's property consisted of ten sandy acres with little vegetation. There would have been outbuildings and gardens surrounding the house, making it rather self-sufficient.

Michel Menard died in 1856 and his descendants occupied the house until 1879. In 1880, the house was bought by Edwin N. Ketchum. According to his daughter, Mamie Ketchum Walker, Mr. Ketchum added the boxes to the bottom of the front porch columns after 1880 to replace the rotted bases. The Ketchum's also attached the rear kitchen wing to the house, which was a separate building before then. Mr. Ketchum was police chief during the 1900 storm and operated a livery stable in the back of the house.

When the Menard family lived here, they called their property "The Oaks." Ketchum renamed it "Old Chaparral" because he found it overgrown with weeds and brush. The fence in front of the house was built by the present owners based on research on historic fences of the period of the house's construction.

The house underwent a full rehabilitation in 1993 and was opened to the public for the first time in 1994. It has been furnished with furniture that was popular on the East Coast at the time of the house's construction and first occupancy. Bear in mind that this is probably not the type of interior that one would have seen when visiting the Menards in the mid-nineteenth century. However, the furniture collection provides visitors with a good introduction to the Neoclassicism popular at the time and to which many people aspired.