HistoricSiteMarkers
Progressive & Modern Era

Hawes Summer Home

Galveston, Galveston County, Texas

Marker Inscription

KENTUCKY NATIVE EDWIN HAWES (1852-1932) WAS A PROMINENT ATTORNEY, LAND OWNER AND POLITICIAN, SERVING AS WHARTON COUNTY JUDGE AND MAYOR OF KERRVILLE. HE AND HIS WIFE, LIZZIE MILBURN (RUST) HAWES (1859-1927), MARRIED IN 1881 AND HAD SEVEN CHILDREN. THE HAWES FAMILY LIVED IN WHARTON AND KERRVILLE AND BECAME SUMMER RESIDENTS OF GALVESTON. IN 1907, JUDGE HAWES BOUGHT THIS LOT FROM ALBERT AND ETTA HALL AND SOON AFTER HAD A SUMMER HOME BUILT. THE TWO-STORY FRONT-GABLED COLONIAL REVIVAL-STYLE HOUSE FEATURES SHINGLED GABLES AND A FULL-WIDTH PORCH WITH TURNED COLUMNS. THE HOME STAYED IN THE HAWES FAMILY UNTIL 1991.

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

Kentucky native Edwin Hawes was a prominent attorney and politician who served as Wharton County judge and mayor of Kerrville. After marrying Lizzie Milburn Rust in 1881 and raising seven children, the family became summer residents of Galveston, where Hawes bought this lot in 1907 and had a summer home built. The two-story Colonial Revival house, with shingled gables and a full-width porch, stayed in the family until 1991.

Why it matters

The house reflects the era when Galveston drew Texas's leading families to the coast for the summer, preserving an example of early twentieth-century Colonial Revival design.

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Related people

  • · Edwin Hawes
  • · Lizzie Milburn Rust Hawes

Themes & tags

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