Photo courtesy Tomball Museum CeGriffin Memorial-House became the first museum added to the Tomball Museum Center's collection in 1969.
Built in 1860 by Eugene Pillot, Griffin Memorial-House served as a private home and the center of many public gatherings in the Tomball area for nearly a century.
"It was the nicest house built in this area in those early days," Tomball Museum Center Director Jean Alexander said. "After we became a state in the U.S. in 1845, people would gravitate to the property that was owned by the Pillots to celebrate different events like July the Fourth. It was long before Tomball was even a thought."
The Pillot family moved to the area in 1837—exactly 70 years before Tomball was established as an official city, Alexander said. The family set up a sawmill along Willow Creek and constructed lumber buildings in the area in the mid-to-late 1800s, she said.
In 1860, Eugene built the home that eventually became the Griffin Memorial-House for one of his children, Nicholas, and his wife, Alexander said. The home remained in the Pillot family until the Griffin family purchased it during the 1920s. When homeowner Edmond Griffin died in the mid-1960s, Judge George Charlton asked Griffin's daughter, Ruth Griffin McCourt, to donate the home to the Spring Creek County Historic Association.
"Of course, Judge Charlton knew the history of the house," Alexander said. "He was very interested in local history [and] Texas history—that kind of thing."
McCourt agreed to donate the home to the historic association and requested it be named after her father as Griffin House. In 1969, the 19th century building became the first museum in the Tomball Museum Center's collection. Charlton had the home moved from its first location on the Pillot family land near what is now Boudreaux Road to its current location on Pine Street in Tomball, where it was dedicated in 1969.
The Griffin Memorial-House does not feature the furniture and decorations that were used by the Pillot family, but it is decorated in a period-proper manner, Alexander said. Most of the pieces were owned by Magdalene Charlton—the daughter of George Charlton, according to the Tomball Museum Center website.
"The things that we have in there were in houses during the main period of this house, the Victorian period," Alexander said. "So it gives you an idea of what it was like to live in such a house in the country at that time."
The center offers museum tours for residents and international visitors.
"[The Griffin Memorial-House] was the first building that we had as a museum and now we have nine or 10," Alexander said.
Griffin Memorial-House, 510 N. Pine St., Tomball 281-255-2148, www.tomballmuseumcenter.org, Hours: Thu., Sat. 10 a.m.–2 p.m., Sun. 2–4 p.m.
