by JEN BIUNDO
The staff of Main Street Dental in Buda are celebrating the 10th anniversary of their business and the 100th anniversary of the historic home that serves as their clinic. (Photos by Jen Biundo)
When patients walk through the door of Main Street Dental, most of them see a lovingly restored historic home that is now serving as a neighborhood dentist’s office. But others are greeted by a memory of years past.
“It’s kind of neat, a lot of our patients come in and they knew this house way back when, and they knew the people who lived here,” said dentist Carol Evans, owner of Main Street Dental. “We’ve gotten some of the history just from the patients.”
Evans and her staff will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the old home, along with the 10th anniversary of the dental practice, this Saturday, May 15, from 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. The celebration will include tours of the historic home, music by Leanne Atherton and Kevin Hollingsworth, a bounce house, balloon artist, face painting, food and presentations by the local Chamber of Commerce and the Texas Historical Commission.
It won’t be the first time the home has been the site of festivities. Stacy Clayton, who’s worked as a dental hygienist at the clinic for 9 years, said older patients frequently share memories of parties and dances at the house.
“Apparently it must have been quite a showstopper, a place where people gathered,” Clayton said. “One patient said a friend got engaged in the back room.”
The lot on the south end of Main Street was platted in or around 1881 as part of the original town of Du Pre, and first purchased by C.C. Huddleston. As Du Pre’s name was changed to Buda and the small railroad town sprang to life, the lot remained vacant for nearly 30 years.
In 1910, W.R. and Nora Ferguson Porter built a home on the lot in a classical revival style. Both husband and wife were the children of early Hays County settlers, and W.R., commonly known as Willie, was kin to the famed Pulitzer Prize winning author Katherine Anne Porter, whose family settled in the 1860s in the area east of Kyle known as Science Hall.
Childless, the Porters turned to their niece Ena Gordon and her husband to care for them in their old age. After the death of Willie Porter in 1944 and Nora in 1958, the house passed to the Gordon family. It was later used as a thrift shop and a paving company office.
In 2000, a couple of years out of dental school, Evans opened her dental office in the old Porter house. A friend of a friend owned the building, and Evans was drawn to its old-timey charm.
“I never thought of myself as one of those people who practiced in a strip mall,” Evans said. “I like the historic aspect, and I like the people of Buda.”
Her original practice employed two other staff members, and today there are six employees.
