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This Old HouseThe history and future of Harrington House
By Luke Blount
More than sixty years after the death of Dr. John T. Harrington, his spirit still remains inside the welcoming doors of the Harrington House Faculty Center. Standing firmly inside Baylor's campus on Eighth Street, the Harrington House has seen many Baylor faces pass through its halls over the past 120 years, but the building did not always belong to the university.
 John Harrington moved to Waco from Abilene with his wife, Genoa, and purchased the house on 1313 South Eighth Street for $4,200 in 1897. A founding member of the first board of trustees for Hardin-Simmons University, Harrington became a member of the Baylor Board of Trustees in 1903, serving until his death at the age of eighty-nine. As a physician, Harrington used his home as an office for his medical practice. Even Baylor presidents sought the knowledge and friendship of the local doctor, and Harrington remained a strong supporter of Baylor, often donating large sums of money to support the university during hard times. He also co-founded the Baylor Medical College and served as president of the Chemical Oil Company and treasurer of the Elta Gold Mining Company of Waco.
After Harrington's death in 1947, his two daughters occupied the home. Baylor tried to purchase it in the 1950s, but the family refused. By 1973, however, the house had been vacant for several years and was vandalized and growing decrepit. Students spread ghost stories about the old Harrington home, which had become an eyesore on campus. Baylor officials negotiated for more than a year with the Harrington family before finally reaching an agreement. According to an interview with one of Harrington's granddaughters, the family took close to $10,000 less than the asking price in return for Baylor's promise to not tear down the home for at least fifteen years.
After the purchase, Baylor spent $60,000 in four months on renovations before dedicating the building in the name of Dr. John T. Harrington in February 1974. The home received a new kitchen, central heat and air, electric wiring, and a new roof among other repairs. Upon completion, the Harrington House became Baylor's first faculty dining center, seating thirty-five guests. With subsidized prices, the facility offered chicken fried steak for just eighty cents.
In the 1980s, Baylor renovated the building again, refurbishing the furniture, updating the décor, and adding the current dining facility at the back of the building. Today, one hundred guests usually eat lunch there on any given day, and the building also provides guest housing for some of Baylor's most revered visitors. However, as dining services move this fall to the new McMullen-Connally Faculty Center at the corner of Speight and Fifth Street, the fate of Harrington House is unknown. "The future uses for the building have not yet been determined," said Dr. Reagan Ramsower, Baylor's vice president for finance and administration. Rumors have spread around campus that Harrington House was in jeopardy of being razed, but Ramsower told the Line, "There are no plans to demolish the building."
"We fought for it," said Ana Matei, Harrington House guest- room host, when asked about the facility's future. Matei has been working and living at Harrington House for more than ten years. She says most of the guests appreciate the comfortable atmosphere, and she argues that Harrington House offers something that other buildings do not: history. "You can build new buildings and spend money," she said, "but you can't buy history."
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