Site of the Dr. D. W. Gilbert Homestead

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about this place — and friend, this one's worth your time. Now, you want a story about a man who couldn't sit still? Pull up a chair.

Or keep drivin' — this one travels just fine at highway speed. Daniel Webster Gilbert was born in Mississippi in 1854, and somewhere along the way somebody started calling him D.W. — and D.W. he remained. He came from a family with a particular calling, because D.W. was one of three brothers who all became Texas doctors.

Three. Out of the same family. You'd think that was remarkable enough on its own, but D.W. was just gettin' started.

At twenty years old, he headed to Grapevine, Texas, where his brother Franklin Monroe Gilbert had already planted his flag. D.W. began studying medicine right there under Franklin's watch. That's how the thing was done in those days — you learned from the people who already knew.

But D.W. wasn't content to stop there. In 1879, he enrolled at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, and in 1881 he walked out of that institution with a proper medical degree in hand.

He came back to Texas, and in 1882 he married Marietta Boardman. Life, though, has a way of dealing hard hands. By 1886, D.W. was a widower with one son.

That year, he married again — a woman named Fannie Trigg Roberts, herself a widow with one son of her own. Two people who had each already known loss, coming together. They built something from that.

They made their home near this very site, in a large house D.W. had built on a hill. Think about that image for a moment — a house on a hill, visible for some distance in every direction. D.W. and Fannie went on to have nine other children together, and if you think the medical tradition ended with D.W. and his brothers, well — four of those boys became doctors too.

From a small office he built on a corner of this land, Dr. Gilbert served patients in the surrounding communities. And when the doctoring was done, he wasn't one to be idle.

He purchased additional land, raised livestock, farmed, planted a peach orchard, and operated the Gilbert Dairy — all of it run with what the marker calls progressive farming methods. A man ahead of the curve, out here in the Dallas County countryside. But Irving was comin'.

When the town of Irving was laid out in 1903, Dr. Gilbert moved his office to a space near the local bank — a bank, by the way, that he helped organize. He would later move that office up to the second story of the very bank building.

There's something almost poetic about that — the doctor looking out over the town he'd helped stitch together, both medically and financially. And in between all of that? He moved his office to Sowers, where he operated a drugstore, mixed medicines himself, and trained others to become pharmacists.

The man was a doctor, a farmer, a dairyman, a banker, a pharmacist instructor. Seems like if there was a gap in the community, D.W. Gilbert stepped into it.

He practiced medicine in Irving until his death in 1930 — which, if you're countin', is right up to the end of his seventy-six years. Fannie stayed on the farmstead after he was gone, living there until she passed away in 1942. The house stood near this site all the way into the 1950s, when it was demolished.

The marker calls D.W. Gilbert one of the most influential early citizens in and around Irving. Remembered for his compassion, his generosity, and a tireless commitment to helping others.

A house on a hill. A small office on the corner. A peach orchard somewhere nearby.

Most of it gone now, save for this marker and the memory of a Mississippi boy who showed up at twenty years old and spent the rest of his life makin' himself useful to everyone around him. That's a life that lands.

What the marker says

Site of the Dr. D. W. Gilbert Homestead Mississippi native Daniel Webster "D.W." Gilbert (1854-1930) was one of three brothers who became Texas doctors. At age 20, he joined his brother, Franklin Monroe Gilbert, in Grapevine and began to study medicine under him. In 1879, he enrolled at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, graduating in 1881 with a medical degree. Returning to Texas, D.W. wed Marietta Boardman in 1882. In 1886, then a widower with one son, D.W. married Fannie Trigg Roberts, a widow who also had one son. They later lived near this site in a large house he had built on a hill. The couple had nine other children; four of the boys became doctors. From a small office he built on a corner of this land, Dr. Gilbert served his patients in the surrounding communities. He later purchased additional land and raised livestock, farmed, planted a peach orchard and operated the Gilbert Dairy, utilizing progressive farming methods. Later, he moved his office to Sowers, where he also operated a drugstore, mixing medicines and training others to become pharmacists. When the town of Irving was laid out in 1903, Dr. Gilbert moved his office to a space near the local bank, which he helped organize. He later moved his office to the second story of the bank building. Dr. Gilbert continued to practice medicine in Irving until his death in 1930. Fannie Gilbert lived on the farmstead until she passed away in 1942. The home remained near this site until the 1950s, when it was demolished. Dr. Gilbert was one of the most influential early citizens in and around Irving. He is remembered for his compassion, generosity and tireless commitment to helping others. (2004)