Lost, Hidden, and Saved Homes

2010 East Cotton Street

Date of construction: 1898
Architectural Style: Victorian cottage
Recorded Texas Historic Landmark: 1967

This white Victorian cottage, one of the most authentic views of times past, was built by John Landrum Finch, a Confed-erate veteran, accomplished musician, cotton grower and businessman. A native of South Carolina, John Finch migrated to East Texas after the civil War and married Eugenia Pool of Missouri in Longview.

"Finch's Hill" was originally home to the family’s log home, farm buildings, and traditional red barn. Construction of the frame house followed, with ornately carved gingerbread, massive double doors graced by lace-etched glass, and bay windows at either side of the wide front porch. Shaded by two majestic oaks, the house was surrounded by a neat picket fence.

Similar to the floor plan of the Stephen F. Austin home in Nacogdoches, the home included two guest’s quarters at the front of the house, which did not have access to the main body of the house but were accorded the privacy of an entrance from the porch. The central hall extends the length of the house, and each room has a fireplace and chimney. Governor Jim Hogg, a close friend of the family, was a frequent visitor. Another notable guest was a young man of impeccable courtesy who, by his modest manner and habit of quoting scripture, led the family to believe he was a traveling clergy; in fact was the notorious outlaw John Wesley Hardin.

Eva Jean Finch Blount, granddaughter of the home’s builder, grew up in this home with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. John Markham Finch. The home was recently sold to an area physician, Dr. Don Eakin.