Historic John Spence House

The historic John C. Spence House at 503 North Maple Street in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, is home to the law offices of Kious, Rodgers, Barger, Holder, & Kious, PLLC. The house bears the name of its original owner, John Cedric Spence, a prominent nineteenth century Murfreesboro businessman, industrialist and chronicler of county history. While the exact date of construction of the house is unknown, the earliest history of the house indicates that it was moved from nearby College Street to its present location in 1866.

The plot of land on which the Spence House is located was acquired by Spence’s wife, Elizabeth, in 1865 from their son-in-law, William Roulet. Local historians maintain that after the Spence family acquired the property, they moved the house, then situated on West College Street, on wooden wheels to their new lot on North Maple Street.

After Elizabeth Spence died in 1884, the house, still in her name, was passed to the Spence children, Henry Spence, Florence Spence, and Mary S. Roulet. John Spence continued to live in the house with one or more of his children until his death in 1890. The Spence heirs sold the family house to James A. Moore on January 20, 1891.

Once in the Moore family, the Spence house was passed from father to daughters and finally sold to his son, James C. Moore, for ten dollars on July 26, 1932. The house was in the Moore family until 1935 when it was sold to George and Lucy Brown. After the divorce of the Browns, Lucy gained sole ownership of the house and opened a boarding house in 1940 as an attempt to generate income. An unsuccessful attempt to sell the Spence house in the early 1970’s led to Lucy agreeing to house MTSU’s chapter of Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity from 1974 until 1981. Lucy evicted the fraternity due to abusive treatment of the house and then sold the property to her daughter and son-in-law, Molly and Roger Teague, on June 5, 1981. Due to foreclosure, the Teague’s lost the house in 1985 and the property was returned to Lucy Brown.

On August 11, 1986, Brown sold the property to the Children’s Discovery House Museum. The museum made several changes to the interior of the house to make room for children’s activities and exhibits. Kious & Rodgers (now Kious, Rodgers, Barger, Holder & Kious, PLLC ) bought the Spence House in 2001 and embarked upon a twenty-two month renovation of the property. During the renovation, a deteriorating rear addition (circa. 1941) was demolished and replaced with a new addition that stretches slightly farther back into the yard than the original. The house remains one of the largest houses on North Maple Street and is similar in style and workmanship to many other Victorian-era homes in Murfreesboro. Because of its association with John C. Spence, the historic John C. Spence House was placed on the National Register of Historic Places on August 23, 2004.