DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Old Dyer House. Now, most houses have a story. This one has two — and the second one starts because of a war.
We're talking about a Victorian home, built in Richmond, Texas. Heart pine and cypress, put together with square nails. That kind of craftsmanship tells you something about the era, and the man behind it — a builder by the name of J.
T. Dyer. Dyer had himself a crew, and they were raising this house up proper.
Victorian, so we're talkin' detail work, trim, the kind of building that takes patience and skilled hands. But somewhere in the middle of all that, the crew deserted him. Just walked off the job.
And here's where the story gets heavy. They didn't leave because the work was hard. They left because of murders.
The Jaybird-Woodpecker feud had come to a boil — a war, the marker calls it, and it doesn't soften that word — fought over political rights. Men were dying. And whatever loyalties or fears gripped that crew, they were gone.
Dyer, apparently, kept building. The house stood in Richmond, that heart pine and cypress holding together through the years, through whatever else history threw at Harris County. Then, in 1963, somebody decided this house was worth saving — and moved it to its present site.
A Victorian home, built through a feud, moved across time to stand a little longer. Some houses, friend, they earn their ground.
What the marker says
Victorian home, of heart pine and cypress, built with square nails. Erected in Richmond, texas. J. t. Dyer, builder, had crew desert him during murders in Jaybird-Woodpecker feud, a war for political rights. Moved to present site, 1963. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1966