A Moment in History The Reagan House

Editor’s Note: The foundation of Big Spring and Howard County is expansive. Each week the Heritage Museum shares a piece of history with the Big Spring Herald readers as a way of keeping the history alive. This week, the history takes a step into the home of the Reagan’s. While the home was involved in a fire and was damaged, the structure may not be standing, but the history remains. To find out more about Howard County history, visit the Heritage Museum.

BY TAMMY SCHRECENGOST

I first noticed the Reagan home over 30 years ago. The old two-story house had such a warmth about it. There had to be many happy times spent in the home with family and friends gathered by the fireplace. There is just something about an old house that has stood through the change of times from the first automobile to world wars and depression to the building of the town. Birthdays and holidays, graduation, and weddings and even the birth of a child, all occurred within the walls. The old house encapsulated those family memories like a vault. Families gathered around the table talking to one another before iPhones became the main dish on the table.

The Reagan house was no exception, built in 1908 by H.B (Burney) Reagan at 411 Jack (Lancaster) street. The Reagan’s first home was moved off to a lot on Bell Street. Mr. Reagan hired Charles

Willis to build the new stately home on the vacated lot.

Granddaughter Frances Reagan Wheat fondly remembered the large kitchen had an island with big drawers that were used for flour and sugar storage. Frances said, “My grandmother made her raisin bread and fresh coconut