J.D. and Georgia Brown House

Duane's take

Here's the story as the official marker tells it, out on the road through Hood County. Picture Granbury in 1907, and somebody's got plans. The R.B.

Spencer Lumber Company is building a house, and not just any house. This one belongs to Jefferson Davis Brown (folks called him J.D.), born in 1853, and his wife Georgia, born in 1857. Now before that house ever went up, J.D. had already been making his mark.

By 1881 he was the owner and operator of an impressive dry goods store right on the town square. From dry goods to banking: J.D. became a prominent banker, and in the early 1900s, the people of Granbury made him their mayor. The man knew how to build something, whether it was a business, a reputation, or apparently a house worth remembering.

And what a house it is. Classical revival style: a two-tier porch dressed up with doric columns, and victorian style angled bays tucked at the gable ends. Elegant without being showy.

The kind of place that says its owner earned what he had. J.D. didn't get long to enjoy it. He passed in 1908, just a year after the R.B.

Spencer Lumber Company finished the work. Georgia lived on; all the way to 1946, and the house stayed in the Brown family until 1935. Nearly three decades of family, history, and those doric columns standing watch over it all.

Some houses outlive the people who built them. This one earned the right.

What the marker says

This house was built in 1907 by the R.B. Spencer Lumber Company for Jefferson Davis (J.D.) (1853-1908) and Georgia Brown (1857-1946). By 1881 J.D. was owner/operator of an impressive dry goods store on the town square. He became a prominent banker and in the early 1900's was mayor of Granbury. The classical revival style house features a 2-tier porch with doric columns and victorian style angled bays at gable ends. The house remained in the Brown family until 1935.