The W.H. Stark House Presents History of Lutcher Sisters January 26
January 5, 2009
For Immediate Release
Contact: Patsy Herrington
The W.H. Stark House Director
409.883.0871
ORANGE, Texas, January 5, 2009 - The fascinating lives of sisters Miriam and Carrie Lutcher will be the focus of a special presentation titled "Oh Papa!" Miriam and Carrie Lutcher in the Timber Forests. The talk, hosted by The W.H. Stark House and led by writers and historians Ellen Rienstra and Jo Ann Stiles, will be held on Monday, January 26, 2009, from 6:30-8:30 p.m. at the Lutcher Theater, 707 Main Avenue in Orange, Texas. There will be no admission charge for this public event.
Miriam and Carrie Lutcher were daughters and wives of some of Orange's most prominent businessmen, but they were also remarkable women in their own right. The presentation will highlight their lives before they moved to Orange with their parents, Frances Ann Robinson Lutcher and lumber tycoon Henry Jacob Lutcher, co-founder of the Lutcher & Moore Lumber Company. It will also bring to life the story of Miriam's marriage to William Henry Stark, a lumberman and Orange civic leader, and Carrie Lutcher's marriage to Dr. E.W. Brown, a physician and former mayor of Orange. Rienstra and Stiles will show historic photographs throughout the presentation.
Rienstra and Stiles each have significant expertise in the history of Orange. Rienstra is a native of Beaumont and graduate of Lamar University in Orange. An author and historical consultant, she has written numerous materials on Texas history, including the Lutcher-Stark-Brown families. She is also writing a biography of H.J. Lutcher Stark, son of William Henry Stark and one of Orange's most noted businessmen and philanthropists.
Stiles is a retired associate professor of history and taught at Lamar University in Beaumont for 35 years. During her tenure with the University, she mentored new teachers and sponsored the Walter Prescott Webb Historical Society, a program that took students to historical sites from Mississippi to Texas. In 2002 she received the Leadership in Education Award from the Texas State Historical Association for outstanding teaching and service in Texas history.
Both Rienstra and Stiles are involved in numerous historical societies, including the Texas Historical Society and the East Texas Historical Society. They co-authored Giant Under the Hill, an award-winning book on the 1901 Spindletop oil discovery and are currently researching, writing and establishing an oral history archive for the Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation in Orange.
Following the presentation on the Lutcher sisters, The W.H. Stark House will honor Rienstra and Stiles with a reception on the third floor of the Lutcher Theater.
For more information on The W.H. Stark House or to make a tour reservation, call 409.883.0871 or visit www.whstarkhouse.org.
About The W.H. Stark House
The W.H. Stark House is a Victorian landmark in Orange, Texas, which has been restored to its original splendor.
The 14,000 square-foot home was completed in 1894 in Orange, Texas by William Henry Stark and his wife, Miriam M. Lutcher Stark, prominent philanthropists who occupied the home until 1936. Designed in the Queen Anne architectural style, the house features a distinctive turret, stained glass windows, and ornate woodwork in cypress and long leaf yellow pine.
Today, the three-story structure stands much as it did at the turn of the 20th century, with fifteen rooms of original family furnishings, personal effects and decorative arts, including antique rugs, original textiles, silver, cut glass and antique porcelain. Also featured are the Stark family's impressive collections of American Brilliant Period cut glass, pressed and pattern glass, milk glass, porcelains, and other 18th and 19th century decorative accessories. The interior of both The W.H. Stark House and its adjacent Carriage House depicts the home life of the Starks in the early 1900s and provides an extraordinary statement of Texas' social history.
The W.H. Stark House is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and designated as a Record Texas Historic Landmark by the Texas Historical Commission. It is operated as a program of the Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation, a private foundation established in 1961 by H.J. Lutcher Stark, the only surviving child of Miriam M. and W.H. Stark.
For image files, contact Patsy Herrington at 409.883.0871 or pherrington@whstarkhouse.org.
The Lutcher Sisters
Ellen Rienstra
Jo Ann Stiles