From Matagorda County History & Genealogy page
The D.P. and Louise Moore home was built on block 60 in 1902 by builders Hatchett and Large.
The land was purchased from David Swickheimer on Nov. 20, 1894.
Lots 4 - 9 - 2404 Ave. E - were for the homesite, and the other half was used for pasture.
It is a late Victorian two-story, four-bay wood-frame residence, with columned and ballustraded front porch and gallery, projecting gable roofed section with bay, and small Palladian window in gable.
The house has two fireplaces, grill work inside the music and dining rooms, drop ceilings downstairs, front and back stairs, porches up and down.
Also, leaded glass windows in the living room, frosted and etched glass front door.
Downstairs are a bed, living music, dining and breakfast rooms, two kitchens, and a bath.
Upstairs are five bedrooms, parlor and a bath.
A closed stairway leads to the attic, with a ladder extending to the “widow’s walk.”
Elegant proportioning and good quality detail make this well-designed structure one of the finest late Victorian residences in Bay City.
The first cement sidewalk in the city extends from the house to the street.
A picket fence enclosed the six lots.
Originally, an attached building held the acetylene gas plant, as gas was used until the house was wired for electricity in 1903.
Above the gas house, was an octagon-shaped structure holding a cyprus cistern that was fed from gutters on the roof.
In the yard was a windmill and tank, large two story barn with stall for horses, corn crib, hay storage, and a room for the carriage.
Other buildings were chicken house, brick sweet potato house, pens for the livestock and a one-room servant’s house.
Dolph Phenias Moore was born in Indianola, Oct. 6, 1852, to Robert Baxter Moore and Mary Layton Moore - both being citizens of the Republic of Texas, and of Revolutionary War descendants.
Receiving his education in the private schools of historic old Indianola, Dolph left early to locate in Matagorda County to engage in the mercantile business.
At the age of seventeen, he moved to “Rancho Grande” and became a clerk at the Pierce Brother’s General Store in Deming’s Bridge (later named Hawley, Texas).
By age 22, in June of 1875, he had built a store, and opened a general mercantile business on the east side of the Colorado River near Elliot’s Ferry.
Across from the store, he also built a cotton gin and home.
D.P. acquired his first 30 acres of land on Dec. 9, 1875 (this land was to later develop into 1,500 acres and qualified for recognition in the 1975 Family Land Heritage Program).
In 1885 Elliot’s Post Office was opened in Moore’s store, and he was appointed Postmaster on Dec. 2, 1885, where he served until 1894 when the post office was moved to the new county seat in Bay City.
In 1891, D.P. Moore moved his family to Matagorda to open another general store.
There, he was appointed to fill out the unexpired term as county treasurer and at the next regular election, was returned to office.
On Sept. 18, 1894, an election was held on moving the county seat from Matagorda to a site in the center of the county on the Bay Prairie - they called it Bay City.
Many landowners in the area were not interested in selling land for the new town, but D.P. Moore saw the need for a centrally located county seat.
He sold 320 acres of his holdings for $1 an acre.
Another 320 acres were purchased from the Mensing brothers at $5 an acre, but since the Mensing pasture was under lease and a barbed wire fence separated the two pastures, the town was surveyed and the courthouse was built in the Moore pasture.
Today, Avenue G in Bay City, which runs on the east side of the courthouse, was the fence line at the time.
With the county seat being moved to Bay City, Moore returned to Bay City from Matagorda to continue his businesses of mercantile, cotton farming, and ranching.
He established a store on the west side of the square Oct. 11, 1894, only one month after the election to begin the town.
The first newspaper of the town, the Bay City Breeze was printed above the Elliot’s Ferry store.
The town grew from 25 in 1894 to 2000 in 1902 due in part by Moore’s assistance of donating 200 acres to entice the Cane Belt, Southern Pacific, and Brownsville railroads into town.
He was the first president of the Matagorda County Rice and Irrigation Company, organized in 1899, and lived to see his faith in this section as a great rice growing belt.
He also served as vice-president of the First National Bank of Bay City, being one of the directors until the time of his death on November 7, 1928.
Donations to the city were numerous including the Cedarvale Cemetery and Park.
D.P. Moore married Louise Wendel, daughter of John and Elizabeth Wendel, on Dec. 17, 1879.
They had 10 children - six girls - Mary Edna, Ella Adell, Thelma, Lois Myrtle, Grace and Martha Louise, and four boys - Robert Eric, Grover, Layton and William Jerome.
In the Bay City Tribune obituary of D.P. Moore, it states:
“In the passing of D.P. Moore, we see a pioneer ranchman and merchant, a spirit clean, sturdy, and fine, possessing the unqualified esteem of every man who knew him and a high sense of responsibility for the welfare of his family and his fellow man. Of quiet dignity, straightforward and sincere, his life stands out as a distinct part in the development of Bay City and Matagorda County.”
After his death, the home was occupied by his widow, Louise.
After her death in 1939, the home was occupied by their youngest daughter, Martha Louise until her death in 1993. It is now owned by a great-grandson.
The Texas Historical Marker dedication for the D.P. and Louise Moore Home was Dec. 30, 1995.