Built in 1911 for banker and pharmacist Josiah Clyde “Clyde” Bright and Effie Wells Bright, this two-story family residence reflects early twentieth-century aspirations in Gonzales. The Brights sold their first home in 1910 to accommodate a growing household and invested in a larger, well-appointed dwelling. Clyde was born February 12, 1876, the son of W. J. Bright and Nora Mitchell Bright; Nora was a daughter of Eli Mitchell, an early settler of DeWitt’s Colony, which ties the family to Gonzales’s frontier roots. Clyde and Effie married May 11, 1898. Effie, daughter of James Bailey Wells and Josephine Henry Wells, was born February 17, 1877 in Gonzales. She died of influenza on March 19, 1920 and is buried in the Gonzales Masonic Cemetery in the Wells family plot.
Clyde married Margaret Clark “Maggie” Sellers on September 10, 1921. Maggie was born February 15, 1891 to Jackson Robert Sellers of Georgia and Endura Belle Bissett Sellers of Gonzales. Clyde and Maggie had one daughter, Margaret Clyde Bright Spacek. Family accounts hold that the house originally stood at the center of the block and was later moved to the corner to make room for a daughter’s home, a change that illustrates how kinship shaped the neighborhood’s form.
The interior plan emphasizes comfort and ceremony. A broad staircase rises to a central landing and large upstairs bedrooms suited to family life and visitors. Original features once included a porte-cochere on the east side and large interior pillars that expressed the period’s taste for open yet ordered rooms. The pillars were removed in the 1930s by Mrs. M. S. Spooner, reflecting evolving preferences for simpler interiors. The house has undergone phases of repair and is currently under restoration by the present owners.
Clyde died December 27, 1943. Maggie died May 8, 1964. Both are buried in the Gonzales Masonic Cemetery.