Not just a place to go, a place to remember

June 3, 2025

by Jeff Williford

HENDERSON, Texas — Everyone knows Texas is full of unique and historic sites, but one stop in Rusk County is a literal throne from the past—an outhouse that has survived for decades.

“It’s fancy, and very elaborate for that time period,” says Vickie Armstrong, director of the Rusk County Depot Museum. “John Arnold built it to match his home. He was a prominent lawyer and businessman here in Rusk County.”

It is fancy indeed. The Arnold Outhouse has louvred windows, of course used for ventilation. The outhouse also features a glass-paned window in the back. The most unique feature?

“It’s also a three-holer, not a one-holer,” said Armstrong. “The holes are small, medium, and large.”

In its heyday, the outhouse’s fancy design and cleanliness, might draw comparison to some of today’s most well-known pitstops. “It was clean, it had ventilation, like Buccee’s has nice air-conditioning in the bathroom. Yes, this outhouse was great,” Armstrong said.

While the world moved to indoor plumbing, and outhouse use went down the drain, this fancy outhouse endured. Proof that not everything gets flushed away by time.

“When they came in to build the library, Miss Gandy took it upon herself to move the outhouse to her home to save it,” Armstrong said. “Because they tore down the house, every structure around the outside of the home — except the outhouse. It was then brought back to our land at the location it is at now.”

That location is less than 200 feet from its original location from where it was built.

TxDOT works with the Texas Historical Commission to properly install historical markers. Throughout the years, the THC has gotten a lot of applications for markers, but this one has to be one of the most unique.

“At first, when we wanted to apply for the marker, there were some giggles and laughs. Virginia Knapp, who was the chairman of the historical commission then, she’s the one who got the ball rolling,” Armstrong said. “After the marker was installed, the news media, newspapers, everything, came around to see and write about the outhouse.

The lavish outhouse has definitely become a part of Henderson’s unique charm.

The Arnold Outhouse is one of the many unique treasures at the Depot Museum in Henderson. A place that exists to help us remember where we came from and how everyday life once looked in East Texas.

“The outhouses have more or less disappeared now,” Armstrong said “They are a disappearing piece of history. Which here at the museum we try and keep history alive. That is what we have done with the outhouse.”

They say everything’s bigger in Texas. But in the case of the “best little outhouse in Texas”, they might just be a little fancier too.