Old Dimmitt Home

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Old Dimmitt Home in Williamson County. Now, if you want to know what a man looked like from the outside in, you could do worse than look at the house he built. And John Jones Dimmitt built one that has been standing in Georgetown for over a hundred years.

The year was 1866. Dimmitt set out to build a home of native limestone, and that stone didn't just appear at the building site on its own. It came in by ox-drawn wagons, hauled in the slow and deliberate way that serious things get done.

What rose from that effort was a house that would become home to prominent citizens of Georgetown for more than a century. Now, who was John Jones Dimmitt? Let me count the ways.

He was a surveyor. He was a lawyer. He was a mathematician.

He was a linguist. He served as county attorney. And if that weren't enough hats for one man to hang on a rack, he was also a partner in the building of the Georgetown Railroad.

A civic leader, through and through. And here's the detail that tends to stick with people. Dimmitt was instrumental in getting Southwestern University moved to Georgetown.

Moved to Georgetown. That's not a small thing to have on your ledger. The house itself passed into the care of Dr. and Mrs.

R.W. Gamble, who have preserved it since 1948. That limestone, hauled in by ox teams all those years ago, still standing, still solid.

Some men leave a building. Some men leave an institution. John Jones Dimmitt, it seems, managed both.

What the marker says

Built in 1866 by John Jones Dimmitt; of native limestone hauled by ox-drawn wagons. Home of prominent citizens in Georgetown over 100 years. Dimmitt -- a surveyor, lawyer, mathematician, linguist, one time county attorney, and partner in building of Georgetown Railroad -- was civic leader; instrumental in getting Southwestern University moved to Georgetown. Preserved since 1948 by Dr. and Mrs. R.W. Gamble. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1967