John Henry Hutchings was born in North Carolina in 1822. After living in New Orleans for several years, he moved to Galveston in 1845. Two years later he entered into a partnership with John Sealy to sell dry goods in Sabine Pass. They returned to Galveston in 1854 and set up shop with George Ball, selling dry goods and trading commissions; by 1856, the firm of Ball, Hutchings and Co. dealt exclusively in banking and commissions.
Hutchings married Minnie Knox in 1856. Her uncle, Robert Mills, gave the couple five acres on Avenue O as a wedding gift, and they built one of early Galveston's rare brick houses. The bricks were fired on Mills' plantation in Brazoria. The house included a half-story schoolroom and teacher's quarters.
During the Civil War, Ball, Hutchings & Co. established a shipping base in Matamoros, Mexico, to export cotton. John Henry Hutchings served as a commissioner of the Confederate States Court. The family left Galveston when it was evacuated but returned after the war's end.
The house was damaged in an 1885 storm; renovations made by Nicholas Clayton over the next few years included the addition of a third level and the application of stucco to the exterior walls. Clayton designed and built the carriage house and completed other renovations by 1889.
Raised after the 1900 storm, the house remained in the Hutchings family until 1926, when it was purchased by John Henry and Agnes Langben. The Langben heirs sold it to Sealy Hutchings, Jr., the grandson of John Henry and Minnie Hutchings, in 1946. He and his wife, Lucille, lived in the house the rest of their lives.
Recorded Texas Historic Landmark-1962
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