Michael Kangerga House ~ Henderson, Texas

Two days ago in my post on the search for Eulalie I mentioned that I had gone on to Henderson, Texas, and found some lovely photo opportunities.  Henderson is the county seat of Rusk County and is named for Texas' first governor, J. Pinckney Henderson.  The county was established in 1843 and the First Baptist and First Methodist Churches were both established in 1845.  I stumbled upon the Mile (Michael) Kangerga House quite by accident but was able to find out a little about it online.

Thank goodness for this sign which identified the house for me!  I had noticed painted on a window in downtown Henderson the name of a business called M. Kangerga & Bro. but not until the next day did I learn anything about this house or its original owner.

This house sits a good eight to ten feet above street level, so, no, I did not have to lay on my belly to get this shot.  In fact, I had to angle the camera somewhat up from my vantage point on the sidewalk.  I love how the wild onion plants (East Texas is COVERED with them right now) gave such a nice border to the lower part of the photo.  One of the dismaying things about photo'ing old towns is the plethora of electric lines.  They seem to go willy-nilly in every direction, sometimes crossing several times over the same intersection. 

The historic district of Henderson sits high atop a hill. 

In fact, the address of the Kangerga house is 501 North High Street.

And now for the reveal!

Mile (Michael) Kangerga, a Serbian from Croatia, immigrated to Texas in 1887 at the age of 13.  He joined his uncle, George Grozdanic, in the mercantile business in Henderson, and his brother, Rade, age 14, arrived three years later in 1890, becoming part of the family business in 1895.  Known as Kangerga & Bro.,the company eventually diversified into other businesses, including cotton brokerage, real estate, and oil leasing.  Mr. Kangerga was a volunteer weather observer for 50 years.  This beautiful Victorian home is an excellent example of turn-of-the-century design and remains virtually unaltered.  Unfortunately, I was unable to locate any data about the McElyea name, which I must assume is the second owner of the home.