Early Beginnings

This cottage-type house was built in 1892 for John Britton Addison and his wife, Martha Bowe Davis Addison. Davis Addison was the oldest daughter of one of Montgomery’s most famous residents, Judge Nathaniel Hart Davis, and his wife Sarah White Davis.  Nathaniel Davis gave his oldest daughter land that was next door to The Oaks, so she’d be close by to look after mother, Sarah, after Davis’ passing, according to Nathaniel Davis’ great-granddaughter Martha Adams Gandy, a long- time Conroe resident and noted local historian.   Judge N.H. Davis passed away in 1893; his wife Sarah lived until 1904, passing away at age 77.  As it turned out, Sarah Davis would live out her final years right in the middle of family, since her other daughter, Amelia, lived directly in front of The Oaks in a house across the street.    

Addison-Gandy Home Construction

The Addison-Gandy home was built by two local carpenters, Robert and John Martin, from another founding family of Montgomery. It was built of selected pine and cypress lumber. The detailed “gingerbread” railing seen in older photos remains a part of the house today. An interesting part of the house is wood-graining on the doors and mantles. It’s been said an old German painter, “Mr. Pratch” or “Mr. Patch” did this work. He left his mark on the work by leaving a portrait of himself on one door. The only other home in Montgomery known to have the same signature is the Davis Cottage which was the original Davis family home. Both the Davis Cottage and Addison-Gandy House featured hearthstones for the two fireplaces that were cut from native sandstone by Uncle Pat Dean who lived west of Montgomery.    

From House to hotel

Martha Gandy provided much of the following facts, stories and details about this historic home and the Addison and Gandy families.  John Britton Addison, born in Louisiana, died at age 48 in 1905, leaving Martha Bowe Davis Addison a widow and single mother of three young children.  Mrs. Gandy explained her grandmother needed a way to support the three children, so she opened the home as a rooming house for local train travelers. “She moved her bed and the children’s bed into one room and rented out the other three,” Gandy said. Martha Davis Addison also had people working with her who helped with the cooking and cleaning, as she served breakfast, lunch and dinner to travel-weary passengers.  “She did well. She was able to educate the kids with two going to college and the other becoming a cowboy,” Gandy said.

The Miracle in Montgomery

Many versions of this story have developed over the years, but Gandy set truth to some of the varied versions.  Mrs. Gandy said John Bowe Addison was 16 and had gone rabbit and bird hunting on family land with a friend (which is now where the C.B. Stewart Library is located).  Addison had stuck a pistol in his belt and while crawling through a fence, it went off, shooting him in the abdomen. “He really was in terrible shape,” Gandy said.  “His friend ran back to the house to get my grandmother.” They brought him back to the house and laid him on a long table (which is still in Gandy’s possession). Martha Bowe Davis Addison, was a widow at the time, so she had a shotgun that she’d shoot in the air in the front yard when she was having a problem!  “People came running to see what the problem was,” Martha Gandy stated. The doctor was summoned, and he gave Davis Addison family instructions to clean out the parlor room, take down the drapes and mop and clean the room as best she could to prepare for surgery. The teen was placed on the table and his mother, along with others would keep the water boiling for surgical instruments and bandages, and others would hold lamps so the doctor could see as he made incisions throughout the night.  As the doctor worked, he would take some of the teen’s intestines and place them on a large meat platter. Surprisingly, young Bowe Addison lived through the night, Gandy said.  He eventually was totally healed and lived to serve his country as a private in the U.S. Army.  He died in Montgomery at 84 years old. The story of his recovery has become known as one of Montgomery’s miracles. He is buried in the New Montgomery Cemetery, founded in 1868.

Renovating the House

When Martha Gandy lived in the house, her parents, Thomas Jefferson Adams and Lu Delle Addison Adams, were teachers living near Dallas during the Great Depression. She recalled that the school district did not have enough money to pay its teachers, so the family left the area and moved to the then-thriving town of Montgomery, where they lived with her grandmother in the Addison house. Martha attended third grade in the Montgomery schools before her family moved to Conroe, where she lived until her death. She also remembered the large oak tree that stood in front of the house throughout her childhood. Years later, when she was an adult with a family of her own, the tree fell but fortunately did not strike the house. The oak is prominently featured in an 1899 photograph of the Addison family home.

Martha Gandy’s mother, Lu Delle, and her two brothers gave the Addison House to Martha and her husband, William Harley Gandy, also a noted local historian and former Sam Houston State University history professor. When the house was given to the Gandy’s, it was in serious need of repairs, as it had not been lived in for about 15 years, according to Gandy.  At that time, it was described to be “on the ground.”  The home was raised, leveled and filled in under the floors. The Gandy’s worked with their children, Susan and Bill, during the renovation as well as a Gandy nephew. Martha Gandy said her husband, Harley, who passed away in 2011, taught the younger family members how to level a house using a water hose during the project. They also learned to cook on the wood-burning stove and how to do chores the way their ancestors might have done it. Following the renovation, the Gandys gave the home to the Montgomery Historical Society in 1997.  The furnishings still belong to Martha Gandy’s family.