In 1908, Belle & Richard Harriss built this home which featured an undecorated frame and a broad front porch. Richard was born in Fort Worth, Texas and began as an errand boy at the age of 6 and entered the cotton business at age 15 with Ralli Brothers in Waco, Texas.

After a venture in the lumber business, he became president of the Harriss-Irby Cotton Company, in Oklahoma City, one of the largest cotton buying firms in the Southwest. In partnership with R.F. Irby and Alden H. Vose, the brother of Richard Vose and the uncle of Charles Vose, Harriss purchased thousands of bales of cotton each year for shipment to Galveston, where his brother, B.F. Harriss, stored the fiber for export. Later as Harriss & Vose, the company became worldwide with offices in New York, Dallas, Japan, Germany and India.

Richard was 28 years old when they built the house on 15th Street. They had a seven-year-old daughter and a one-year-old son. In addition, Richard’s mother, four of his brothers, a sister-in-law, two nieces, and two household workers also lived in the home. They remained in the home until 1919. Richard later became president of the New York Cotton Exchange in 1925-26. He died August 25, 1971, at the age of 92.

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