DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the Texas Historical Commission put on the marker for the Bill and Maude Dodson House in Farmers Branch. Now, every town's got a founder story, but not every founder story starts in the trenches of France and ends with a man defending his neighbors from a city that was twelve whole miles away. Pull up a chair, because this one earns it.
William F. Dodson — everybody called him Bill — was born in 1895 in Malakoff, Texas. In July of 1917, he married a woman named Maude Gilmore over in Fort Worth.
And the ink was barely dry on that license before the world had other plans. The following May, Bill became a private in the 36th Infantry Division, shipping out to serve in France's Meuse-Argonne sector during the First World War. He went over a newlywed and came back a veteran.
November of 1918 — same month the guns went quiet — the Dodsons welcomed a son. They named him Smith. Life, stubborn and hopeful, carrying right on.
After the war, Bill and Maude settled into Dallas, working in real estate and oil. But by the 1930s, they had their eye on something quieter. They moved out to Farmers Branch, and Maude — now here's a woman who knew what she wanted — she commissioned contractor Ross Faulkner to design a house built to her specifications.
Not Bill's specifications. Maude's. And you can tell, because the place turned out right.
A Colonial Revival one-story frame house, telescoping wings, side gables, wood siding, six-over-one windows, and a slender pedimented entry with square columns standing guard at the door. Completed by 1937, it was originally situated closer to Farmers Branch Creek, before the whole house was picked up and moved to its present site in 1942. Because if Maude decided the house needed to move, the house was going to move.
Now here's where the story shifts register on you. January of 1946. Bill Dodson gets word that the city of Dallas — city limits then sitting twelve miles distant, mind you, twelve miles — is drawing up plans to annex the Farmers Branch community.
Fold them right in. Swallow them whole. Bill Dodson did not care for that idea one bit.
He and his neighbors went door to door, circulating a petition for a local incorporation election. And when the citizens of Farmers Branch went to vote, they said yes. And then in April of 1946, they turned right around and elected Bill Dodson their first mayor.
H.O. Good, Lawson Lewis, Raymond Milloway, Thomas Reeder, and Glenn Templin became the first aldermen. A city, conjured out of determination and a petition sheet, standing twelve miles from the neighbor that wanted to absorb it.
The new city council needed somewhere to meet. Well. They held three of their first meetings right there in the Dodson House.
Others were conducted at Mason Lodge No. 395, where Bill was already a member. The living room doubling as city hall — that's not a metaphor, that's just Tuesday in Farmers Branch, 1946. During Bill's two-year term, Farmers Branch hired its first city employees, stood up a fire department, built out a water system, and joined the League of Texas Municipalities.
A whole civic infrastructure, grown from a petition and a front porch. Bill Dodson passed in 1949. Maude lived in that house — the house she'd designed, the house that briefly served as a city hall, the house that had literally been relocated across a yard because she decided it should be — Maude lived there until 1983.
Then she donated it to the city as the core of a heritage park. Maude Gilmore Dodson was born in 1896. She passed in 1998.
One hundred and two years on this earth. Some houses just hold more history than their walls ought to be able to contain. This one was designed by a woman who knew what she wanted, saved from annexation by a man who wasn't having it, and served as the first city hall of a town that willed itself into existence.
The marker went up in 2007. The house is still standing. That's Farmers Branch.
That's the Dodsons.
What the marker says
This historic Farmers Branch residence was the home of the city's first mayor. William F. (Bill) Dodson (1895-1949), a native of Malakoff, married Maude Gilmore (1896-1998) in Fort Worth in July 1917. The following May, Bill became a private in the 36th Infantry Division, serving in France's Meuse-Argonne sector during the First World War The Dodsons'son Smith was born in November 1918. After the war, the Dodson family lived in Dallas and became active in real estate and oil. They moved to Farmers Branch in the 1930s and commissioned contractor Ross Faulkner to design a house to Maude's specifications. Completed by 1937, it was originally closer to Farmers Branch Creek but moved to its present site in 1942. In January 1946, Bill Dodson learned the city of Dallas, with city limits then 12 miles distant, planned to annex the Farmers Branch community. He and his neighbors circulated a petition for a local incorporation election. Citizens voted approval, and in April they elected Dodson the first mayor. H.O. Good, Lawson Lewis, Raymond Milloway, Thomas Reeder and Glenn Templin became the first aldermen. The new city council held three meetings in the Dodson House, with others conducted at Mason Lodge No. 395, where Dodson was a member. During his two-year term as mayor, Farmers Branch hired its first city employees, established a fire department and water system, and joined the League of Texas Municipalities. Maude stayed in the house until 1983, donating it to the city as the core of a heritage park. The Colonial Revival one-story frame house has telescoping wings, side gables, wood siding, six-over-one windows and a slender pedimented entry with square columns. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark – 2007