Thomas William House, Sr.

Thomas William House Sr. (March 4, 1814 – January 17, 1880) was a merchant, cotton factor, investor, banker, and politician in Houston, Texas. House started as a baker in New York and New Orleans, before establishing his own businesses in Houston. These businesses included a bakery and confectionary, a general dry goods store, cotton factorage, and bank. He was also a major investor and organizer of Houston-based transportation and utility companies. He traded cotton while evading naval blockades during the American Civil War.

Early life House was born on March 4, 1814, in Stoke St Gregory, Somerset, England.

Career Baker/confectioner In May 1835, House emigrated to New York City. There, he became a successful pastry maker. Later House accepted an invitation from the owner of the St. Charles Hotel in New Orleans, Louisiana, to run the establishment's bakery.

Transportation In 1850, House was one of the founders of the Houston Plank Road Company, an early attempt to improve wagon transportation to and from the interior. The company raised $150,000 in capital, but it scuttled plans for building oaken-plank roads as the feasibility of railroads emerged. House supported the Confederacy in the American Civil War. He helped to outfit local militia groups, including the Houston Light Guards, who were nicknamed the Kid Glove Gentry because of the kid gloves supplied by House. House exported cotton in exchange for cash or munitions. Relocating to Galveston during the war, House surveyed the blockading Union fleet movements. In this way House was able to direct his trading ships to evade the blockage, while also arranging overland transportation to and from Mexico.

Utilities, banking, and agriculture House did not stop developing Houston after the Civil War. In 1866, he organized the Houston Gas Company, Houston's first public utility. House erected the plant and the mains at a time when the general public was indifferent. Gas first came to hotels and public places. Slowly, it came to private homes, and eventually gas street lamps were erected on the streets of Houston. He also helped organize the first street railway, the Board of Trade and Cotton Exchange, the Houston and Texas Central Railroad, along with many other railroads.

Mary Shearn House, House's wife of thirty years, died in 1871.

Death and legacy House died on January 17, 1880 in San Antonio, where he had been convalescing. At his death, his estate of $500,000 made him one of the wealthiest people in Texas. The T.W. House Bank continued to operate after his death.

One of his sons, Edward M. House, became an adviser to Woodrow Wilson.