The Thompson House, oldest in Grayson County, and some confusing images by THC

The Thompson Cabin, built in the 1830s and most likely the oldest structure in Grayson County, was moved Grayson County Frontier Village in 1986 after it was saved from destruction by Nelllie Blankenship Chambers, who moved it from its original location at Preston (west of Denison) to her property on Paw Paw Creek (east of Denison). It is now faced with white clapboard (Highsmith, LOC).

Photos by THC in the 1970s depict the Thompson House, Grayson County's oldest, still extant structure. Well, kind of.

In 1970, the Texas Historical Commission (THC) visited Denison, Grayson County, Texas to take some photographs of historic houses. One of them was the James George Thompson house, a log cabin dog trot that the county's first judge built to serve his family, his ferry operation, and the post office along Preston Road in the 1830s.

The house remained in its original location until the 1940s, when the damming of the Washita and Red rivers into Lake Texoma threatened the structure. Luckily, local historian Nellie Blankenship Chambers saved it from inundation: she took the Thompson house, as well as the old plantation home of Glen Eden (at least, most of the boards that hadn't been used for fire wood), and set them on her property along Paw Paw Creek on the eastern side of town. She saved early Grayson County history!

But here's where I'm going to have to, regrettably, point out a few errors in documentation... sorry, I'm a stickler.

First, THC's photo of the Thompson house at "1200 East Main" is correctly labeled when it comes to the address, but the description is "Photograph of the Thompson House - Next door." It's a cedar shingle home with a Texas Historical Marker Medallion and can be viewed here:

https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth685392/

Picture no. 1: Labeled "Thompson House - next door (located at 1200 East Main Street) in Denison, Texas. THC documented this house at Nellie Blankenship Chambers' property along Paw Paw Creek. It's a cedar shingle home and has a medallion, and the dog is hidden behind the tree on the right. Seriously!

A second photo of "The Thompson House" is labeled as being located at "200 East Main," which would be odd if the other photo is "next door." And it IS next door, as you can tell by the landscaping and the sign "dog," who is hiding behind the tree in picture number 1 (go ahead, take a look!). This seems to be log cabin, and can be viewed here:

https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth679271/

Picture 2: THC labeled this home as "Thompson House (located at 200 East Main Street) in Denison, Texas." But it's next door to 1200 East Main? It's a log home, so it is probably Thompson's 1830 log cabin, and the medallion may be hidden.

So... what is the cedar shingle house in Photo 1? Is that the Thompson House, or might it be Glen Eden? And if so, why wasn't it labeled? I don't know where the medallion is.

In yet another twist, a history of Chambers' work states that Glen Eden was "reassembled from some of the logs." So is the log cabin actually Glen Eden? If so, why is the Thompson House faced with cedar shingles? Is it for aesthetics? Or is the cedar shingle house in picture number 1 just another home, and not part of the preservation efforts?

Luckily for all of us, Nellie Blankenship Chambers' efforts remain a cornerstone of Grayson County history. Upon her death, the Thompson home and Glen Eden (at least parts of it) were moved to the Grayson County Frontier Village at Loy Lake Park in Denison. I'm sure they know all about this and can fill us in!