HistoricSiteMarkers
Civil WarReconstruction & Gilded Age

Roberts House, Dr. R. A.

Cedar Hill, Dallas County, Texas

Marker Inscription

A native of North Carolina, Dr. R. A. Roberts (1837 - 1906) settled in Cedar Hill in 1859. After serving as a Confederate Army surgeon he returned to this area, where he became a prominent physician and helped bring the Grand Central and Santa Fe Railroad line through Cedar Hill. Roberts built this home for his family in 1884. The late Victorian style house features jig-sawn work on the porch and stick style brackets that support the second-story gable. RTHL 1984

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

A North Carolina native, Dr. R. A. Roberts (1837–1906) settled in Cedar Hill in 1859 and, after serving as a Confederate Army surgeon, returned to build a prominent medical practice. He helped bring the Grand Central and Santa Fe rail line through town, tying the community into the growing Texas rail network. In 1884 he built this late-Victorian home, notable for its jig-sawn porch work and stick-style gable brackets.

Why it matters

Roberts embodies the physician-boosters who knit postwar Texas towns into the national economy through medicine and railroads.

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Related people

  • · Dr. R. A. Roberts

Themes & tags

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