Ramey House

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and here's how I'm gonna tell it to you. Somewhere in Smith County, there stands a house that has outlasted nearly everything around it, and the story carved into its walls goes back to 1903. That's when the home of Thomas Brown and Mary Josephine Ramey, she was a Spencer before she married, was crafted out of virgin cypress and southern heart pine.

Now when they say virgin cypress, they mean timber that had never seen a saw blade before that moment. The builders weren't cutting corners. They were building something meant to last.

And it did. The architectural style of the place draws from two currents running strong at the time: a revival interest in colonial American history, and the late nineteenth century classical movement. In other words, this house was built to look back at something dignified, something worth honoring.

It wears that intention well. Now the family that filled those rooms, that's where the story gets its legs. Thomas Boyd Ramey was born in 1892, and he grew up to become a prominent local attorney.

But the thing that made him a name people still say out loud in Tyler, he founded the city's rose festival. Think about that. A lawyer who handed his town something it celebrates to this day.

Thomas Boyd Ramey lived in that house with his family, under that cypress and pine roof, until his death in 1967. The house stood for him. And in a way, it still does.

What the marker says

An important example of turn-of-the-century domestic architecture, the home of Thomas Brown and Mary Josephine (Spencer) Ramey was crafted of virgin cypress and southern heart pine in 1903. The architectural style of the house is typical of the revival interest in colonial American history and the late 19th century classical movement. Thomas Boyd Ramey (1892-1967), a prominent local attorney and founder of Tyler's rose festival, lived in the home with his family until his death. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1997