At 1.8 square-miles, Morgan’s Point–situated near La Porte on Upper Galveston Bay, population ~350–is a tiny peninsula with a rich history, including ties to the famed Yellow Rose of Texas and the Battle of San Jacinto. Settled in the mid-1800s by Col. James Morgan, a pioneer and commander during the Texas Revolution, the townsite eventually became a favored destination for wealthy Houstonians escaping the sweltering summer heat of the city.
And for more than 120 years, a charming Victorian home at 427 Bayridge Road has watched over it all. Built as a summer home by Irish-born businessman Dan Kennedy with cypress logs floated down the ship channel from Kennedy’s friend Jesse H. Jones, the renowned Houstonian businessman who went on to become a U.S. Secretary of Commerce, the house was moved (by mule) up the bluff from its original construction spot to the one acre on Morgan’s Point where it sits today.
Designed to capture the bay’s naturally cooling breezes with multi-level wraparound porches and high second-floor ceilings, the home is believed to be the oldest surviving on Galveston Bay. The property’s elevation has shielded it from destruction as the old house weathers storm after storm, beginning with the Great Galveston Hurricane in 1900.
The home remained in the Kennedy family for seven more decades; in the mid ’70s, it saw an extensive remodel and enlargement, including the addition of a formal entrance. The home’s current owners, Ron and Jeanne McElvogue, are only the third in its history. The four-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bathroom home with a detached garage and upstairs apartment was listed with John Daughtery Realtors this month for $849,900.
A few doors down, new owners will find a notable neighbor in the ’20s-era Sterling Mansion, the 20,689-square-foot White House replica of former Texas Gov. Ross Sterling.
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