Scott-Barker House

Jun 5

Built around 1880, the Scott-Barker House is the oldest remaining building in the rapidly developing city of Melissa, originally laid out in 1872 along the Houston & Texas Central Railroad north of Dallas. The two-story frame house, built on an L-plan, has distinctive dormer windows topped with unusual Mansard-style roofs. The house was restored in the 1990s and designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1999 before it was purchased by the City of Melissa for offices and civic use.

Like other communities in the region, Melissa has rapidly urbanized over the last two decades leading to the destruction of many of its historic buildings. In 2024, a 2.4 million dollar bond proposition to rehabilitate the building into city offices failed, casting doubt on the future of the oldest house in Melissa. Community members seek a creative adaptive reuse solution that would enable the one-of-a-kind house to remain on its original site as a tangible link to Melissa's 19th-century origins.