Rabb House

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and here's how I'm gonna pass it along to you. The Rabb name in this part of Texas goes back a long way. A long way.

We're talking land grants in Fayette County all the way back in 1823. So when Virgil Sullivan Rabb, Jr. showed up in Smithville in 1891, he wasn't exactly a stranger to the soil. He came with his family, following his father, who had just bought the Calcasieu Lumber Company.

And Virgil Jr. didn't come along just to enjoy the scenery. He ran that lumber company for his father, built a reputation, became what the marker calls a prominent local citizen. That's the kind of phrase that carries some weight in a small Texas town.

It means people knew your name, and they said it with a measure of respect. Now, here's where the story takes a turn toward something you can still go look at today. In 1912, Virgil and his wife Lillian, born a McCollum, built themselves a home.

And they did not build it plain. They built it Queen Anne style, with classical ornamentation. A two-story wrapped porch.

Asymmetrical plan. Ionic columns. And the entry, well, the entry was detailed with bull's-eye molding, transoms, and sidelights.

That is a house that is trying to tell you something the moment you walk up to it. Virgil Sullivan Rabb, Jr. was born in 1870 and died in 1943. Lillian outlived him, passing in 1960.

But that house they built together in 1912 is still standing in Smithville, Bastrop County, carrying the Rabb name and every last one of those ionic columns right along with it.

What the marker says

Virgil Sullivan Rabb, Jr. (1870-1943), came to Smithville in 1891 with his family when his father bought the Calcasieu Lumber Company. The Rabb family had been in this area since receiving land grants in Fayette County in 1823. Rabb ran the lumber company for his father and became a prominent local citizen. In 1912, he and his wife, Lillian (McCollum) (d. 1960), built this home with Queen Anne design and classical ornamentation, a two-story wrapped porch, asymmetrical plan, ionic columns and entry detailed with bull's-eye molding, transoms and sidelights. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2002