DUANE
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Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, this story starts the way a lot of good Texas stories do: with land, and somebody who knew what to do with it. William L.
Hawkins was the son of area pioneer settlers, which means he grew up knowing the value of roots. In 1892, he and his wife Emma (she was a Barker before she was a Hawkins) they purchased land and a house right here. Set up their lives.
But here's the thing about people with vision: sometimes the house that's already standing just isn't the house they're imaginin'. So in 1901, William and Emma removed the original structure entirely. Gone.
And in its place, they hired a man named Will Price, a local wood artisan, to build something worth rememberin'. Price worked in imported cypress timber, and he didn't just cut it square and call it done. He hand carved the ornate wood trim himself.
Every flourish, every curve. The house was completed in 1903, and what he delivered was an asymmetrical Queen Anne design; the kind of house that makes you slow your car down without quite knowin' why. Now, fine houses have a way of attracting attention.
By 1905, prominent businessman Tom Dees and his wife Mattie (Mattie Hawkins, so the family connection held a little longer) they purchased the house. Then in 1913, Edward and Mollie Byrd acquired the property. And the Byrd family?
They weren't goin' anywhere. That house stayed in Byrd hands all the way until 1957. Over four decades.
Will Price carved it out of cypress in 1903, and it outlasted everyone who commissioned it. That's the kind of work that earns a marker.
What the marker says
William L. Hawkins, the son of area pioneer settlers, and his wife Emma (Barker) purchased land and a house here in 1892. They removed the original structure in 1901 and hired local wood artisan Will Price to build this house. Made of imported cypress timber, it was completed in 1903. It features an asymmetrical Queen Anne design and ornate wood trim hand carved by Price. Prominent businessman Tom Dees and his wife Mattie (Hawkins) purchased the house in 1905, and in 1913 the property was acquired by Edward and Mollie Byrd. It remained in the Byrd family until 1957.