J.D. and Georgia Brown House
Granbury, Hood County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This house was built in 1907 by the R.B. Spencer Lumber Company for Jefferson Davis (J.D.) (1853-1908) and Georgia Brown (1857-1946). By 1881 J.D. was owner/operator of an impressive dry goods store on the town square. He became a prominent banker and in the early 1900's was mayor of Granbury. The classical revival style house features a 2-tier porch with doric columns and victorian style angled bays at gable ends. The house remained in the Brown family until 1935.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
J.D. Brown rose from owner of a bustling dry-goods store on the Granbury square in 1881 to become a prominent banker and, in the early 1900s, the town's mayor—the arc of a Gilded Age Texas merchant made civic leader. In 1907 the R.B. Spencer Lumber Company built this Classical Revival home for J.D. and his wife Georgia, its two-tier porch, Doric columns, and angled Victorian bays announcing the family's standing. The Browns held the house until 1935.
Why it matters
Fine merchant homes like this one map how commerce and banking built the leadership class of small Texas county seats at the turn of the twentieth century.
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Related people
- · J.D. Brown
- · Georgia Brown
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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