Sims-Womack House
Hillsboro, Hill County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The original section of this house, which consisted of two rooms and a detached kitchen, was built prior to 1870. Later additions were made during the ownership of Dr. William Thomas Sims (1874-1928), who purchased the property in 1906. A prominent early dentist in Hillsboro, Dr. Sims was also a leader in civic activities and in the Methodist church. Later owners of the residence were Leroy and Lalia (Baldridge) Womack, local business and civic leaders. Purchased on their wedding day, December 24, 1934, it has remained in the family since that date.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This Hill County house began before 1870 as two rooms with a detached kitchen and grew under Dr. William Thomas Sims, a prominent early Hillsboro dentist and Methodist and civic leader who bought it in 1906. Later it passed to Leroy and Lalia Womack, business and civic figures who purchased it on their 1934 wedding day. It has remained in the family ever since.
Why it matters
Long-lived family homes like this one trace the growth of a small Texas town through the professional and civic leaders who shaped its everyday life.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
Hillsboro, the seat of Hill County, grew up in the heart of Central Texas's blackland farm country. In the decades after the Civil War, the region filled with farmers, and county seats like Hillsboro became the places where they came to trade, settle legal matters, see a doctor, and go to church.
The original part of this house, two rooms with a separate kitchen, went up before 1870. That simple plan was typical of the era. Keeping the kitchen detached reduced the risk of fire and kept cooking heat away from living quarters, which mattered a great deal in the long Texas summers.
As the town prospered around the turn of the twentieth century, it drew professionals such as doctors, lawyers, and dentists, along with merchants and civic leaders. Many of them bought older homes and expanded them, so that a single house could end up reflecting several generations of building styles and family needs.
People & events
The house's story as it is remembered today begins in earnest with Dr. William Thomas Sims, who bought the property in 1906. Sims was a prominent early dentist in Hillsboro, part of the growing professional class that small Texas towns depended on. During his years here, the modest early house was enlarged with later additions.
Sims was more than a dentist. He was a leader in civic life and in the town's Methodist church, the kind of person who helped shape the everyday institutions of a community. He lived from 1874 to 1928, spanning the years when Hillsboro changed from a frontier-era county seat into a more settled small town.
Later, the house passed to Leroy and Lalia (Baldridge) Womack, themselves business and civic leaders in Hillsboro. They bought it on a memorable day: December 24, 1934, their wedding day. It was the middle of the Great Depression, which makes the purchase all the more striking. The house has remained in the family ever since.
Its place in the American story
Houses like this one tell the story of small-town America from the inside. Grand mansions and famous buildings get much of the attention, but most American history happened in homes like this, where local professionals and business owners raised families and built the civic life of their towns.
The way this house grew, from two rooms and a detached kitchen to a larger family home, mirrors the way many American towns matured. Early, basic buildings were expanded as prosperity arrived, and the layers of a house can show that change as clearly as any written record.
The Womacks' purchase in 1934, in the depths of the Depression, is also a reminder that ordinary life went on through hard times. People still married, bought homes, and invested in their communities. A house that has stayed in one family for generations offers a rare thread of continuity through a century of change.
If you visit
Hillsboro sits along the busy corridor between Dallas and Waco, so it makes an easy break on a Central Texas road trip. The town's historic courthouse square and older neighborhoods reward a slow walk or drive.
This is a private residence that has stayed in the same family since 1934, so enjoy it from the street and respect the owners' privacy. As you look, see if you can imagine the small original house of two rooms with its separate kitchen, and how later owners built onto it over the years.
Pair this stop with other markers in town to get a sense of the professionals, merchants, and church leaders who shaped Hillsboro. Together they paint a picture of how a county seat grew from its early days into the community you see today.
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
- · William Thomas Sims
- · Leroy Womack
- · Lalia Baldridge Womack
Themes & tags
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