Tom Lloyd Burnett Home
Iowa Park, Wichita County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Prominent cattleman and civic leader Tom Lloyd Burnet (b. 1871) had this house built in 1924. The colonial revival residence was designed by the Wichita Falls architectural firm of Voelcker and Dixon. After Burnett's death in 1938, the house became the residence of his cousin, rancher and civic leader Will Burnett, and his wife, Maggie (Denny). The Burnett home, an Iowa Park landmark, features a Dutch Gambril roof with a clipped gable. (Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1983.)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Cattleman and civic leader Tom Lloyd Burnett, heir to one of North Texas's great ranching names, built this stately Colonial Revival home in 1924, hiring the Wichita Falls firm of Voelcker and Dixon to design it. Its Dutch gambrel roof and clipped gable made it a landmark in Iowa Park. After Burnett's death in 1938 it passed to his cousin Will Burnett, another rancher and civic figure, keeping the house within the family that helped shape the region's cattle economy.
Why it matters
The home embodies the prosperity and permanence that the great ranching families brought to North Texas, translating open-range wealth into enduring civic architecture.
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Related people
- · Tom Lloyd Burnett
- · Will Burnett
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Tom Lloyd Burnett
Iowa Park, TX
Son of the noted rancher Burk Burnett, Tom L. Burnett was raised on the famous 6666 Ranch and became a leading cattleman in his own right, running the Triangle Ranch and range land across several North Texas counties. A civic leader and philanthropist, he was known for his friendship with Native people, including the celebrated Comanche chief Quanah Parker, and for his backing of area rodeos, which earned him the nickname the "Rodeo King." He died at his residence on this site in 1938.
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Iowa Park was one of countless towns that leapt up ahead of the rails crossing Texas in the 1800s, born in 1885 as "Daggett's Switch" on the Fort Worth and Denver City line. Union Pacific builder Gen. G. M. Dodge promoted the townsite, and land agents recruited Midwesterners — many from Iowa — laying out a plat full of parks in 1888. Two decades of farm prosperity gave way to frenzy in 1918 when oil was struck nearby, sending speculators and land prices soaring until the boom burned out by 1925 and a steady farm economy returned.
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Van Dorn Trail
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