Dubach trots out historic structure - shollis

This photo features the T.Y. Colvin house and family, circa 1920, with Mr. and Mrs. Colvin shown on the far right. The home's historic features are providing a guide for restoration of the structure as a new welcome and information center in Dubach (photo courtesy of Colvin family).

Highway 167 in Dubach has a new old structure, an 1883 dogtrot house, which will soon welcome visitors into the town. Thanks to the efforts of the Dubach Restoration and Beautification Organization and a $13,000 federal grant from the Delta Regional Authority, the house was moved in mid-June. The structure will be developed as a welcome and information center, adjacent to the DRABO-owned and restored Scott Hamilton Warehouse, which serves as a community center. The project is in keeping with Dubach's having been declared the "Dogtrot Capital of the World" by the Louisiana Legislature in 1990.

Nancy Jensen, past president of DRABO, is directing the venture, and DRABO member Bob Jensen will help oversee restoration and development of the house.

"Once the house is restored on U.S. Highway 167, which is soon to be a thoroughfare through Central Louisiana," Jensen said, "it will be a landmark for our Dubach that can provide tourists an opportunity to stop and enjoy our state and its traditional culture as well as the wares of area artisans."

The project began in summer 2004 when Dubach mayor Margaret Rogers contacted Dr. Susan Roach, folklorist for the Louisiana Regional Folklife Program at Louisiana Tech. Roach provided help in locating a dogtrot house to be relocated on the site, one block from the intersection of Highway 152. Roach developed a short list of potential houses.

The closest was the T.Y. Colvin house on Pea Ridge Road in Lincoln Parish, approximately seven miles from Dubach. Thomas Yancy Colvin was a descendant of Thomas R. Colvin, one of the major settlers of the area (descended from Andrew Feaster and Jemima Petrie Colvin). Roach said, "The family story says that Colvin asked his bride-to-be, Mary Idera Lizette Ball, what she would like, and she said she wanted to live near where she had grown up, just down the road. T.Y. Colvin had the house built by John Mayfield (Colvin's uncle) in three months before they married December 27, 1883.

The T.Y. Colvin house, moved by Thomas Emanus of Ferguson House Movers of Jonesboro, had to cross seven bridges in its recent seven-mile move, including D'Arbonne Bridge going into Dubach. The roof was removed to clear electric lines (photo by Susan Roach).

"The story says that all the lumber for the house was dressed by hand, and the house was originally roofed in pine shingles. The house was the centerpiece of his farm, which was a typical farm of the area. In 1937, the land and house were purchased by his grandson J.R. Colvin, and family continued to live in the house. A daughter and husband, Corrine Colvin and O.B. Anderson, lived with Mrs. T.Y. Colvin until her death. It was rented to non-family through the 1960s. Afterward it was uninhabited."

After J.R. Colvin's death in 1977, the property was left to his wife and children. By this time, the house was the only structure left on the land, which is now used for timber and gas production. Gas wells are located nearby on both sides of the house, making the building's current location an unappealing site for a residence. Roach contacted the descendants of J.R. Colvin family, and in August 2004, they donated the house to DRABO.

A crew from Belding Restoration of Minden put roofing rafters and sheeting back on the Colvin dogtrot house (photo by Susan Roach).

Roach said the house is an exemplary dogtrot from the later period of dogtrot building and was featured in Lestar Martin's "Folk and Styled Architecture, Volume I, the Hill Parishes." The house was built with milled heart pine, measures 34x40 feet, and has four rooms, two iron stone fireplaces and a large open hall down the center. A separate ell, with a dining room and kitchen accessed by the central hallway, was built on to the back of the house around 1900.

Thomas Emanus, of Ferguson House Movers of Jonesboro, was contracted to move the house. Jensen and DRABO member Jerry Rogers cleared the area surrounding the house to provide access.

Moving the house was delayed, however, because of the Highway 167 expansion, which made the proposed site inaccessible from the road, as well as the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Another problem was Entergy's determination that the house was too tall to permit its passage, so the roof had to be detached for the move.

With the new lanes of Highway 167 completed, the site became accessible, allowing the house to be moved on June 14. Before the move, restoration expert Jeff Belding of Minden removed and later reinstalled the roof.

Emanus said the house was one of the oldest structures he has moved. The move was challenging, he noted, with seven bridges on the route.

Roach says of the relocation, "The house is an appropriate selection for the town of Dubach since it was built near the time of the settlement of Dubach (established in 1900, but settled earlier by many from the Colvin family). When the area was settled, dogtrots were the preferred style, and dogtrots from this earlier period are still located in the town boundaries. With the Autrey House (another well-known dogtrot home) located just a mile from the Welcome Center site, visitors will be able to see the historical development of this house type from the square-notched log to the milled heart pine wood frame structure."

Roach, who has collected extensive family oral history and photographs for the project, is providing technical assistance in the restoration and developing interpretive information for exhibition panels and a brochure.

Tech architecture professor and associate dean of the College of Liberal Arts, William Willoughby, thinks that moving the house is in keeping with the history of house-moving in the region, recalling that many houses in Vienna were moved to Ruston when it became the parish seat.

"This is an excellent replacement for the 'Dogtrot Capital of the World' building mural demolished during the recent Highway 167 expansion," Willoughby said. "It will be both a symbol of the historic dogtrot architecture in Dubach and a welcome rustic landmark to visitors to the area. I am very enthusiastic about the steps taken by DRABO to improve Dubach's general appearance, and I am encouraged by the commitment I see to preserving history and restoring locally significant architecture that may a first glance be overlooked."

Martin's research has found that the major concentration of dogtrot houses is in the northern part of Lincoln Parish with Dubach as its center. The oldest documented house in Lincoln Parish, the Absalom Autrey House Museum, a log dogtrot built in 1849, sits less than one mile west of Dubach on Highway 151.

Participants in the DRABO Dogtrot Welcome Center project gather in front of the Colvin house after its recent arrival in Dubach. From left are: Susan Roach, Louisiana Tech folklorist; Jerry Rogers and Nancy Jensen, DRABO members; Jeff Belding of Minden, restorationist; Margaret Rogers, Dubach mayor; Thomas Emanus, of Ferguson House Movers of Jonesboro; and Naomi Colvin and Ken Burrow, from the donor family (photo by Peter Jones).

Donors of the house from the J.R. Colvin Family include Sarah Alice Colvin and children Ellen Brown, of Searcy, Ark.; Naomi Burrow, of Shreveport; Nancy Roark, of Jena; Philip Colvin of Monticello, Ark.; and Paul Colvin, of Florence, Ala. Roach reported that they were excited about the project. Because the heirs of the house do not live in the area, many parts of it have been stolen, including the mantels, doors, door facings, some of the siding lumber, baseboards and a front column. The porch railing is long gone, but its supports remain on the columns. Enough of the original detail remains so that with the help of period photographs, the exterior can be authentically restored, Roach said.

Both rock chimneys have collapsed, but the rocks are still on the site. The roof and supporting structures of the back ell, a later addition, have also collapsed, so this part of the house is not restorable, Roach said, but some of it may be used to replace parts of the main structure.

Since the grant monies were all used for expenses related to the move and the roof removal and replacement, DRABO will appreciate any donations of funds and volunteer time to help with the Welcome Center Project. To donate or for more information, contact Nancy Jensen at (318) 777-9989 or Margaret Rogers at (318) 777-3321.