Email Museum

White Deer Land Museum

116 S. Cuyler

Pampa, TX 79065

December 29, 1991, by Kirk Duncan

My parents, brother, and I didn't take very many photographs. Film was expensive, none of us chose photography as a hobby, and our equipment was primitive. Our camara was a box-type, made by Kodak, which was what it was called (get the Kodak and take a picture).

Mom took this photo during the first year she and Dad were married, about 1921. It is the house of my grandparents, J.N. and Gatsy Duncan, which was located on the west side of Duncan Street in Pampa, TX. Because it was the only house on the street for a long time, the street was naturally called Duncan Street. Inside, I could ride my tricycle in a complete circle from the living room, to the kitchen, to the dining room, and back to the living room.

The house was heated by a monstrous coal furnace, which was in the basement. The bathroom had just one fixture, a bath tub. A lavatory was installed in the hall. Because the Duncans didn't want a privy in the house, there was no commode (a two-holer was outside). Running water was provided by a large storage tank and wind mill to the kitchen sink, the bath tub, and the lavatory. The first kitchen stove was fueled by kerosene.  Later, the stove as well as lights were fueled by a carbide gas plant, which was located by the house.

J.N. was noted for a lot of talents but not for detexterity. Checking a gas plant with the light of a match has never been a safe practice. However, that is what he did one night. The explosion singed him pretty good. J.N.'s mother (Caroline Duncan, whom we called Granny), also learned about gas and matches the hard way. At this time she was quite old and slow. One day she shuffled to the stove, turned on the gas, shuffled to the cabinet for a match, and returned to the stove. Except for the loss of her hair, she wasn't severely hurt.

After the water tank was placed and before it filled with water, a strong southwest wind belew it off its foundation and across the road into Fairview Cemetery. After resetting it, J.N. ingeniously provided water not only for the house but also the orchard and garden. Possibly, he devised the first drip-line sytem in the county. By the mid-twenties, the grounds were lush with large trees, flowers, and other growing things.

The grounds were thirty two acres, which would be bounded today by Hobart Duncan, Harvester, and Louisiana Streets. In this year of 1991, visualize this area with only one house. The J.N. Duncans sold this property in 1928 for a good price of $32,000. Today, the area is subdivided into lots and a building is on each lot. With few exceptions, each would sell for at least $32,000.

When the oil boom began in 1926, the J.N. Duncan children had left home. Because of the housing shortage, Gatsy rented rooms for a couple of years and made enough money to furnish the new house, which was built in 1928.

The house was moved to the otherside of the street at 938 Duncan, and converted into rent property. Sadly, it is vacant now and in poor condition.

The proud owners of the car in front were my parents, Ivy and Mattie Duncan. Like all cars of this vintage, a crank in front was turned to start the engine.  Dad said that the only way to get up a steep hill was to back up.

As related by Wade and Ferne Duncan, 12/31/91, J.N. Duncan lacked a formal education but was intelligent and innovative. The house was built about 1914 but not quite finished according to J.N.'s thinking. At first, kerosene was used to fuel the cook stove and lamps. Wanting something better, he ordered a carbide gas plant to be installed beside the house. A contractor resided with the Duncans for two weeks while he made the installation. The talk was that J.N. would get himself blown up, and there were two near-fatal incidents. Nevertheless, the system worked, and there was, possibly, not another like it in the entire Panhandle. The lights were beautiful, and the substitution of gas for kerosene in the cook stove was a great improvement. There was even a ten-gallon hot water tank. Water was heated by circulating it through the cook stove.