Towle House

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Towle House in Scurry County. Now, some houses just sit on a lot. And then some houses become the kind of place a whole town measures itself by.

This is one of those. Dr. H.

G. and Mary Towle, she being a Ruddick before she took that name, got married in Colorado City in 1905. They made their way to Snyder, opened up a jewelry and optical store, and started putting down roots. In 1908, they bought the lot.

Then in 1912, they had a two-story brick house built on it, with a full basement underneath and a full-length porch out front. Colonial revival and craftsman influences, the marker says, and you can picture it: brick walls, porch columns and railings, a dormer window looking out over Scurry County like it had something to say. By 1927, they'd added a carport, and they enclosed a second-story screen porch and made it a sun room.

People who know their houses know that's the kind of detail that separates a house from a home. Now, Dr. Towle was not a man content to tend his store and sit on that porch.

He helped organize the Volunteer Fire Department in 1911. He served as mayor of Snyder, and not for a year or two, but from 1927 all the way to 1947. He also served as president of the Texas Board of Optometry.

The man had range. The Towle family held onto that house until 1956, which means for decades it stood at the center of a town that Dr. Towle quite literally helped lead and protect.

Some houses tell you who built them. This one tells you who built the town around it.

What the marker says

Dr. H. G. and Mary (Ruddick) Towle married in Colorado City in 1905, moving to Snyder to open a jewelry and optical store. The Towles bought this lot in 1908 and had this two-story brick house with full basement built in 1912. The house has colonial revival and craftsman influences, featuring brick walls, porch columns and railings, full-length porch, and dormer window. The Towles added a carport (1927) and enclosed a second-story screen porch as a sun room. Dr. Towle’s civic and professional highlights include helping organize the Volunteer Fire Department in 1911, serving as mayor of Snyder from 1927-47, and president of the Texas Board of Optometry. The home remained in the Towle family until 1956.