C.C. and Mattie Hughes Cody House
Georgetown, Williamson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Georgia native Claude Carr Cody (1854-1923) worked at Southwestern University for 37 years, serving as a mathematics professor and university administrator. He was known as the "Grand Old Man of Southwestern." He wed Martha "Mattie" Hughes in 1883, and her father, judge and legislator Thomas P. Hughes, gave them this lot, adjacent to one he had given to another daughter, Lonetta Booty. The Codys completed their home by 1897. The Free Classic Queen Anne house features Doric columns, an octagonal corner bay and a distinctive oval window. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2005
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Claude Carr Cody, a Georgia-born mathematician, spent 37 years at Southwestern University, becoming so central to the school that he was called its 'Grand Old Man.' In 1883 he married Mattie Hughes, whose father, a judge and legislator, gave the couple this lot, and by 1897 they had completed a Free Classic Queen Anne home distinguished by Doric columns, an octagonal bay, and an oval window.
Why it matters
The house links a beloved figure of Texas higher education to the fashionable domestic architecture of the Gilded Age college town, showing how a university shaped the community that grew around it.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
In the late nineteenth century, Georgetown was becoming a college town. Southwestern University, a Methodist school, had made its home there in the 1870s. The college shaped the community's identity, drawing professors, students and families who valued learning.
It was also a period of growth and optimism in Central Texas. Railroads and a booming farm economy brought new wealth, and the prosperous families of towns like Georgetown built houses that showed off the latest national fashions.
The Queen Anne style was the height of that fashion. Late in the century, a version called Free Classic Queen Anne combined the style's playful shapes with classical details such as columns, a sign of the revived interest in classical architecture sweeping the country in the 1890s. The Cody house, finished by 1897, belongs to exactly that moment.
People & events
Claude Carr Cody was born in Georgia in 1854 and found his life's work at Southwestern University. Over 37 years he taught mathematics and served as an administrator. His devotion earned him the affectionate title the 'Grand Old Man of Southwestern', a name that suggests a figure students and colleagues saw as the heart of the institution.
In 1883 he married Martha Hughes, known as Mattie. Her father, Thomas P. Hughes, was a judge and legislator, and he gave the newlyweds this lot. He had given the lot next door to another daughter, Lonetta Booty, so the sisters' families would live side by side, a quiet glimpse of how prominent families of the period kept their children close.
The Codys finished their home by 1897. It has graceful Doric columns, an octagonal bay at the corner and a distinctive oval window. It is a house built for a family at the center of a growing college community, and it was designated a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 2005.
Its place in the American story
Across nineteenth-century America, religious denominations founded colleges in growing towns, and those schools became anchors for their communities. Southwestern University is part of that tradition, and longtime faculty like Claude Carr Cody were the people who gave such places their character over decades.
The house also shows how national architectural taste reached small-town Texas. The Queen Anne style, and its Free Classic variant with columns and classical trim, spread across the country through pattern books and builders. A professor's family in Georgetown could live in a home as fashionable as any in the East.
Together, the man and the house tell a broader story about the American college town: the way a university's faculty helped shape a community's neighborhoods, social life and sense of itself.
If you visit
This is a historic house to admire from the street, so please respect it as a private home unless you know otherwise. Look for the details the marker points out: the Doric columns, the octagonal bay on the corner and the oval window that makes the house stand out.
As you look, think about the neighborhood as a family arrangement, with Judge Hughes's daughters given lots next to each other. A walk through the area gives you a feel for Georgetown in its Gilded Age college-town days.
The house makes a pleasant stop on a stroll through Georgetown, which is known for its well-preserved historic downtown. Add a visit near the Southwestern University campus, where Cody spent nearly four decades, and you have an easy, rewarding half-day north of Austin.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · Claude Carr Cody
- · Mattie Hughes Cody
- · Thomas P. Hughes
Themes & tags
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