Lovell-Dobbs House

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker says about the Lovell-Dobbs House in Brown County. Now settle in, because this one house has more stories stacked inside it than it has floors, and it's got two floors. It starts with a man who came a long way to build things.

Tom Lovell, born in 1852, was a native of Scotland, and by about 1889 he was right here in central Texas, swinging a contractor's hammer and raising this very home for his family. But a family house was just his quieter work. Tom Lovell also built the state capitol in Arizona.

He built several central Texas courthouses. He built the local St. John's Episcopal Church building.

The man had range, you might say. He passed in 1911, and the house he built outlasted him, the way good houses do. Then comes the second chapter.

In 1902, the Reverend Charles Holt Dobbs purchased the two-story residence. He and his wife Elizabeth, born in 1837, didn't settle into it and put their feet up. No.

They used it as a home base while they went out into the rural country around Brownwood as traveling teachers and Presbyterian missionaries. The Reverend Dobbs died in 1920. Elizabeth followed in 1921.

But here's where the story gets its long, quiet staying power. Their daughters, Anna and Bess, kept the house alive in a way nobody might have predicted. Those two women operated a kindergarten right here, in this home built by a Scottish contractor, for over thirty years.

One house, one address: built by a man who raised capitols and courthouses, filled by a couple who carried schooling and faith out across the open land, and then tended for decades by two women who made sure the youngest voices in Brownwood had somewhere to learn. That old house in Brown County earned every room.

What the marker says

Tom Lovell (1852-1911), a native of Scotland, constructed this home for his family about 1889. A contractor, he also built various public structures, including the state capitol in Arizona, several central Texas courthouses, and the local St. John's Episcopal Church building. The Rev. Charles Holt Dobbs (d. 1920) purchased the two-story residence in 1902. He and his wife Elizabeth (1837-1921) served the rural area around Brownwood as traveling teachers and Presbyterian missionaries. Their daughters Anna and Bess later operated a kindergarten here for over thirty years. (1980)