Athens Weekly Review
Sept. 17, 1925
L. R. Wright
Louis Roswell Wright, son of Newell K. and Mary Ellen Wright, was
born
in Le Seur county, Minn., May 31, 1858. The family was driven out
of
Minnesota by the Spirit Lake Indian Massacre, a "Prairie
Schooner"
being used to transport them to the safer domicile of Peoria,
Ill. From
this place the family moved to Galesburg, Ill., in 1873, and from
there
came to Texas, settling at Dallas, in October, 1876.
Mr. Wright was graduated from high school at Galesburg, Ill., the
year of
the family's removal to Texas.
Preparatory to what was to be his life work he mastered the
carpenter's
trade which he followed for a time previous to completing a 4
year's
course in architecture. He then served one year in an architect's
office,
after which he engaged in the contracting business, with his
father,
under the firm names of N. K. Wright & Son.
The father died in 1891 and Mr. Wright continued the business
alone
until 1911, when he organized the L. R. Wright Construction Co.,
with
offices at Dallas. This company specialized in public buildings;
notable
among these being the Y. M. C. A. building at Dallas, and twelve
courthouses in Texas, Louisiana and Arkansas. Of these monumental
creations to the credit of Mr. Wright and his company, the
beautifully,
handsome and widely heralded court house of Henderson county
stands pre-eminent among them all.
In 1918 Mr. Wright retired from active construction work and
purchased
a farm home near Athens, where he now resides. His attempt to get
away from activities of the old life proved futile. His creative
genius was
not nearly so easily stilled as he had supposed it to be and he
was
forced to capitulate by opening an office in Athens. Many
handsome
buildings in Henderson and adjoining counties have since risen to
delight the eye of mankind with the triumphs of a master creator
of
architectural beauty.
In 1894 Mr. Wright was married to Miss Eva Knaur of Denison. He
has
two sons, one of whom enlisted in the army at the age of 18 years
and
was sent overseas in a replacement draft. After Armistice h e was
stationed at Coblez. Mr. Wright in national politics is a
Republican. He
is a Mason and a member of the Scottish Rite Bodies. For
thirty-five
years he has been an elder in the Presbyterian church and he and
his
wife are active in the affairs of the local church.
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