John R. Dobie House
Wimberley, Hays County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Constructed about 1892 for Charles and Susannah Cock, this house was purchased by John R. and Martha Dobie in 1899. A native of Scotland, Dobie (1849-1924) was a farmer, rancher, and Hays County commissioner in 1897-98. A fine example of vernacular house types, the John R. Dobie house features a central hall plan, board-and-batten construction, and classical detailing. It remained in the Dobie family until 1977. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1990
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Built about 1892 for Charles and Susannah Cock, this Hill Country house was bought in 1899 by John R. Dobie, a Scottish-born farmer, rancher, and Hays County commissioner. With its central-hall plan, board-and-batten walls, and classical touches, it is a fine example of Texas vernacular building, and it stayed in the Dobie family until 1977.
Why it matters
The homestead reflects the immigrant farmers and ranchers who settled the Texas Hill Country and shaped its local communities in the late 19th century.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · John R. Dobie
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
German Pioneers in Texas
Sattler vicinity, TX
Between 1844 and 1847 a society of German nobles, the Mainzer Adelsverein, sponsored the emigration of thousands of Germans to Texas, who founded New Braunfels in 1845 and Fredericksburg in 1846. Pushing west, these farmers, artisans, scholars, and scientists endured epidemic and privation, and a treaty with the Comanche opened millions of acres between the Llano and Colorado rivers to settlement. Much of the land they first settled now lies beneath Canyon Lake.
Sattler
Canyon Lake, TX
German immigrants permanently settled this stretch of the Guadalupe River in the 1850s, giving their scattered community names like Marienthal, Walhalla, and Mountain Valley before it settled on Sattler for the family whose home first held the post office. A country store complex — with post office, dance hall, cotton gin, and bowling alley — became the gathering place for farm and ranch families. The building of Canyon Dam in the 1960s scattered the old community, but its German heritage endures in Comal County.
Immanuel Baptist Church
Kyle, TX
When Christian Siebenhausen and Karl Wiegand reached Kyle from Germany in 1883, other German families soon followed, and in 1886 sixteen of these settlers gathered at the George Wiegand home to found the first German Baptist Church of Kyle. Worship began in homes and Sunday school in the community schoolhouse before a church and parsonage rose in 1893. After fire destroyed the original building in 1940, the congregation dedicated the present rock church in 1941 as Immanuel Baptist Church.
Fischer Homestead
Spring Branch, TX
This homestead at the springs of Rebecca Creek sat on land granted to Texas pioneer James Baker for his service in the Texas War for Independence. German immigrant John Heinrich Fischer bought the tract in 1860 — likely running cattle there as early as 1857 — and raised his family on its vital water source. His daughter Anna and her husband William Klinger owned the homestead from 1881.