The Waggoner Mansion in Decatur, Texas

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The Waggoner Mansion or El Castille as its often called was built and owned by the Waggoner family from 1883 until 1942. The mansion was mostly vacant from 1922 to 1942 when the Luker family purchased the place. The family continues to live/own the place.

The Waggoner Mansion’s Current Condition

The house has kept most of its original craftsmanship and material. Most Victorian homes do not come close to having this much of the original craftsmanship and material left. The Waggoner mansion is classified as“authentic.”

The interior and exterior walls are made of solid porous limestone. The exterior is in great shape, but in need of a lot of preventive maintenance including painting and minor repairs. The grill work around the roof is original, but 1941 the grill work was added around the porches.

Currently, there is a separate addition to the rear of the house. There is a few out buildings on the property that include a wooden smokehouse, storm cellar and a four car garage with stables underneath the garage that was build sometime in the recent future. At the edge of the property one of the original bunkhouses that was used on the Waggoner Ranch still stands!

A Brief History on the Early Waggoner Family

This beautiful example of Victorian craftsmanship was the home the Waggoner family, a very wealthy family in the early days of Texas Ranching. The house was built by Daniel L. Waggoner.

During the mid ninetieth century, Dan Waggoner  drove a herd of Longhorns into Wise County which started his successful career as the “Cattle King.” During this period, he built his mansion and it was the headquarters of the Waggoner Ranch by 1900. The Waggoner Ranch crossed seven counties. The ranch had a thirty mile east and west stretch by a twenty-five mile north and west stretch that had over a million acres. The ranch had over 60,000 head of cattle and had three separate rail lines.

Then in 1903, oil was discovered on the ranch and because of this, the Waggoner Refinery was founded in 1911. With the results of a successful cattle ranch and finding the oil made the Waggoner Family one of the richest and most influential families in the Southwest.

After Dan Waggoner passed away in 1904, the house was passed down to his son, William Thomas Waggoner. Then in 1931, W.T. Waggoner had the house restored. After his death in 1934 set vacant until it was sold years later.

The Waggoner Mansion’s Current Condition

The mansion is in ok shape. The yard and buildings are maintained. The house needs some minor repairs and honestly I can’t tell if anyone lives there. But the house is so large it may not be possible to tell that from the street.

I do not have more shots of the house or even know what it looks like inside. When I stopped by, I took pictures from the street as most people do. The property has signs along the property line with no trespassing and isn’t placed in access to take more exterior pictures of the house. At some point, I hope to have the chance to learn more about the property and possibly document the inside.

About the Image

The image was shot by hand with my Sony Nex-3N and a Sony SEL16F28 16mm f/2.8. I then edited the image in Adobe Lightroom. Next, I post processed with Topaz Clarity to add texture, brighten, and bring out the details in the image. Then I removed the dust spots. Finally, I used Topaz DeNoise to remove the noise from the image.