Moving to Jonah

The Historic and Architectural Review Commission (HARC) has approved plans to move this house at 1809 Main St. to Jonah. Apparently this won't be the first time it has been moved. It was originally located at Fort Hood. The property owner plans to replace this house with a new one that is 2,500 square feet. Stay tuned....

Tracing the Life of Jesse Daniel Ames

Many people know that women's suffrage advocate Jesse Daniel Ames lived in the yellow house on Church Street (second photo from the top) because there is a historical marker in front of it. What people may not know is that there is another house in Georgetown with ties to Ames.

The beautiful Victorian house at 705 E. 3rd St. was Ames' childhood home. Fifteen years ago it was so run down that many people thought it should be torn down. But George and Barbara Meyer were up to the task and lovingly restored it.

Barbara Meyer told this story several times in recent months as various city boards considered changes to the city's Unified Development Code (UDC) that would make it harder for people to demolish historic houses in Old Town. With the help of concerned citizens like the Meyers, the City Council approved the tougher restrictions at its first reading on Jan. 25.


Also shown in this post is a photo of what Ames' house on Church Street looked like when the current owners, Michele and Herb Ledebohm, bought it in 2004.

And finally, I have posted a photo of Jesse Daniel Ames' grave in the IOOF Cemetery behind Southwestern University. She is buried there along with her parents and her youngest daughter. Southwestern University historian Bill Jones helped me find the gravesite.

Bungalow Remodeling is Booming

Several bungalows in town are being remodeled, including the one at 1803 Austin Ave., the one at 1504 Ash and the one at 2004 Main St. To see what bungalows in Old Town can look like with a little remodeling, check out the photo of the remodeled bungalow at 2006 Church Street (bottom), which was originally featured in a September 2009 post when it was under construction.

Under Renovation

Several homes in Old Town are currently being renovated, including this one at 200 Walnut (bottom) and this one at 1603 Church (top).

A Victorian Lady

Exterior renovations have been completed on the house at 803 College St. Except for the new additions, the house looks very much like it might have during the Victorian period. See the previous post from April 15, 2010 for photos of the house before renovation and when it was first built.

Georgetown's Historian

I finally got the chance today to meet Ralph Love, who is Georgetown's unofficial historian. Mr. Love's great uncle was David Love, who was one of Georgetown's early businessmen. Two buildings on the square are named after him. Mr. Love works part-time at the Georgetown Library and helps residents who have questions about local history and geneology. I was hoping he might be able to find an old photo of my house or some information on the first owner. He wasn't able to find anything right away, but he promised to do some research for me. While I was looking at the albums of old photos the library has, I took a picture of the old train depot that used to be located near Southwestern (where the feed store is now). Mr. Love said in the 1920s, trains used to arrive at this depot with orphans who were up for adoption and people would come pick out children they wanted. The depot was unfortunately torn down in the 1970s.

Save This House

The owner of this house on University Avenue is selling it to be moved, probably to make way for commercial development. The house is located across from the shopping center in which El Patron is located. The listing agent Lackey Real Estate, (512) 863-9613 or lackeyreal.estate@verizon.net