Joe Charles and Todd Kitsmiller describe the style of their Waxahachie home as
“Craftsman airplane bungalow.”
DAVID TAFFET | Senior Staff Writer
Taffet@DallasVoice.com
Joe Charles and Todd Kitsmiller’s Waxahachie home will be featured on June 6-7 on the Gingerbread Trail Tour of Homes. But this isn’t the first historic home the couple has restored.
Charles and Kitsmiller moved to Dallas in 2012 where they bought a Craftsman home built in 1914 in Oak Cliff. After doing work on the house, they sold it and bought another. When they finished working on that second home, they bought a third house in historic Winnetka Heights — a home they still own.
They rent out the third house as an Airbnb, sometimes staying there themselves when it is vacant.
For their fourth restoration project, they headed south, purchasing a house in Waxahachie in 2022. That house, built in 1926, will be on the tour celebrating its centennial. They describe the style as a “Craftsman airplane bungalow,” because the second story has a smaller footprint than the main floor, a shape that resembles early aircraft.
To update and restore the house, they started by stripping the floors of at least three layers of vinyl to reveal the original wooden floors. They replaced the porch railing in front, then painted, wallpapered, added penny tile to the upstairs bathroom, redid the kitchen and more.
But why did they choose Waxahachie?
“We’d come here to go antique shopping,” Kitsmiller said. And their favorite Mexican restaurant — El Mexicano Grill — is on the town square. Charles explained that he grew up in the Rio Grande Valley, so he’s very particular about his Mexican food.
Waxahachie, they said, is the only city they’ve found that really cares about its historic homes. It’s close to Dallas — about as far south as Plano is north, but with a lot less traffic to contend with to get into the city.
They were a little worried they’d be the only gay couple in town. But they’re not. In fact, more and more, gay couples have been attracted to Waxahachie’s older homes, available at great prices compared to elsewhere.
“Our neighborhood is very close knit,” Charles said. “Neighbors get together for crawfish boils and barbecues. And we’ve been embraced as a couple.”
“They take their historic homes pretty seriously,” Kitsmiller said of their neighbors.
Their home is in the East Marvin Historical District, which, they said, is in the process of obtaining its historical district status.
Waxahachie’s history
Six homes will be on the tour of homes the first weekend in June. Money collected from the sale of tickets for the tour goes to the Ellis County Museum, which is housed in the oldest building in downtown Waxahachie.
Waxahachie was one of Texas’ leading producers of cotton, prompting the railroads to make a stop there, helping make the small city quite prosperous. The museum features information about the city’s historic architecture and stories of its early settlers.
Charles and Kitsmiller said the museum also sells small signs to local homeowners showing the year their house was built, so as you’re visiting homes featured on the Gingerbread Trail, you can compare the age of nearby homes.
Charles said one fun fact about their street is the house three doors down from theirs was featured in the 1984 Sally Field film Places in the Heart. Other homes in the neighborhood were used in Tender Mercies and The Trip to Bountiful.
And the Gingerbread Trail Tour of Homes, now in its 56th year, is historic in and of itself, since it is the oldest home tour in North Texas.
This year, the six homes on the Gingerbread Trail tour are each built in a variation of the Craftsman style of architecture that was popular in the early 20th century. Each are examples of the preservation efforts that have been made to maintain the design elements that made these houses special.
Charles and Kitsmiller said that a hailstorm hit the area, breaking many of the big Victorian windows that are common in these homes. To replace those windows, which are no longer a standard size, homeowners had to order special glass.
In addition to the houses on the tour, ticket holders will have exclusive access to the museum throughout the weekend.
General admission also includes access to the historic Ellis County Courthouse, located on the town square, and the Ellis County Women’s Building, which is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year.
Also, the Ellis County Master Gardeners are offering garden tours at no additional charge.
And if you were wondering if Waxahachie is haunted, on Saturday night at 6 or 9 p.m., join the Echoes of the Past Ghost Tour for an after dark, paranormal experience. On the tour, you get to use official ghost hunting equipment while learning about Waxahachie’s haunted history. The tour offers a chance to go upstairs in the museum building and into the former Masonic Lodge.
General admission is $40 for the tour and extras from 9 a.m.-4 p.m. VIP tickets get you in an hour early and include mimosas and more. Tickets are available at EllisCountyMuseum.org/GingerbreadTrailTourOfHomes.