“Like living on Fifth Avenue” is how Texas Governor R. B. Hubbard described the Tyler neighborhood of West Houston at Vine. It was on this corner that the Bonner-Whitaker-McClendon house was built in Ca. 1878.
Judge M. H. Bonner, a Texas State Supreme Court justice, bought a parcel of land from the estate of his former law partner, Texas’ first governor, 1. Pinckney Henderson.
When Bonner’s eldest daughter, Mattie, married attorney Harrison Whitaker, the newlyweds were gifted two acres on which they built their home in 1878. The Whitakers shopped in New York for their fire mantles, light fixtures, wall paper and furniture. They selected an East Lake Bracketed architectural design for construction of their two story, nine room home. The house became a center point for Tyler society as the Whitakers presided over dinners and parties, all celebrated in grand Victorian style. Sadly, Mattie suffered an untimely death and five years later, Harrison remarried and moved Beaumont with his children and new wife.
