Alexander Gates & Lillian Johnson Thomas House
San Marcos, Hays County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Alexander Gates Thomas (1877-1944), an English professor and authority on Texas folklore, and Lillian Johnson (1885-1966), an art professor, met as educators at Southwest Texas Normal School. Married late in life, the two were inspired on their honeymoon in the Cotswold region of England to pattern their home after the cottages there. They built this house themselves of native stone quarried near San Marcos. Of special interest are its 14-inch thick rock walls and its Tudor revival features, including the swept gable roof and arched lancet openings. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1997
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Alexander Gates Thomas, an English professor and Texas folklore authority, and Lillian Johnson, an art professor, met as teachers at Southwest Texas Normal School and married late in life. Charmed on their honeymoon by the stone cottages of England's Cotswolds, they built this Tudor Revival house themselves from native stone quarried near San Marcos, giving it 14-inch walls, a swept gable roof, and pointed lancet windows. It is a small monument to two educators' shared imagination.
Why it matters
It captures how early-twentieth-century American academics carried Old World inspiration home, and honors a woman art professor's career at a time when few colleges employed them.
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