162-year-old log home saved in Flower Mound

FOR THE FIRST CENTURY of its existence, the Gibson-Grant Log Cabin and subsequent additions to the home in Flower Mound were lit by candlelight, kerosene or daylight.

Tree-ring analysis confirmed the original 16- by 16-foot log house was built around 1860, making it one of the oldest structures in North Texas that’s still on its original site.

Long before Flower Mound was founded, these early Denton County settlers used a wood-burning stove, a fireplace or exterior fire pit to cook meals.

CoServ records show that everything changed in 1961, 101 years after the initial cabin was built, when Denton County Electric Cooperative – now known as CoServ – first brought electricity to the home. The Member, listed as Macon R. Warlick, owned the home from 1959 to 1965.

Suddenly, this old farm home could have light bulbs, kitchen appliances, electronics and air conditioning. Modern life had finally come to the corner of Quail Run Road and Flower Mound Road.

Over the years, multiple, modern additions hid the fact that part of the home was more than a century and a half old. Decades later in 2015, the house was slated for demolition by Vaquero Development, who wanted to subdivide the land for new homes. Its days were numbered.

Salvation came one day when developer Curtis Grant – out of curiosity after the previous owner said they’d found a 100-year-old newspaper clipping – started tearing into the walls of the home. That’s when he discovered the historic logs. He called the Denton County Office of History and Culture’s Peggy Riddle, who had been working to relocate another cabin from Corinth. The size of the cabin and the cut of the timber confirmed this was a Peters Colony home.