George Irvine House Historical Marker, Georgetown, Texas

In the 1880s, Georgetown was developing as an important commercial center of Central Texas. In Land of Good Water, Clara Stearns Scarbrough notes that by 1887 it had "two flouring mills, a mattress factory, a cotton gin, a candy factory, a bakery, a cigar factory, five blacksmith shops, three shoe shops" and a variety of other businesses.' The town's prosperity attracted individuals from other parts of Texas, as well as from other states and countries. Among those foreign immigrants who contributed to the late 19th-century development of Georgetown was George Irvine, a native of Scotland. He was born on March 21, 1841, in the Deerness Parish of the Orkney Islands, off the northern coast of Scotland, north-northwest of the port city of Aberdeen. He was the son of Thomas Irvine (1809-1891), a Scottish ship carpenter, and Jeanette B. Irvine (born 1805) [2]

In 1849, [3] the family emigrated to Canada, settling in the province of Upper Canada, now Ontario.

After living for a time with a family named Fatheringham near St. Catherines, in the vicinity of Niagara Falls, they moved to the township of Caistor (now Caistorville). In 1852, they moved to Grimsby, near Lake Ontario. George received his education in Canada and, like his brothers, Edward and Absalom taught at Will's school in South Grimsby. In the late 1860s, shortly after the U.S. Civil War, he moved to Texas, settling first in See County. A housebuilder by trade, he also lived in Live Oak and McMullen counties before returning to Canada in the fall of 1870. On November 24 of that year, he married Rebecca Kent, of English descent. [4]

In December 1879, George returned to Texas with his bride and settled in St. Mary's, then the main town of Refugio County and a leading port city of Texas. [5] Four children (Eva, Edgar, Chester, and Etta May) were born to the couple while they were there. [6]

In 1879, Irvine's moved to Georgetown, where George continued his work as a carpenter.

Two years later he entered the lumber and contracting business with his brother Thomas. The Irvine Brothers Lumber Company, also known as the "city mills", was successful and George continued the operation even after the death of Thomas in 1885. His efforts to enlarge and diversify the family business in the ensuing years included the acquisition of an ice factory begun by W. R. Chumley. [7]

At the height of his business success, George Irvine built a home for his family at 409 East University in Georgetown.

Completed in 1886, it was sited prominently on a lot west of Georgetown College (now Southwestern University). [8] The Irvine House is a two-story, T-plan, frame residence with Italianate detailing, especially in the paired brackets and the elaborate hood moldings. An unusual architectural feature is a seven-sided bay on the east side of the house, providing originally an interior space for a reading room that overlooked the adjacent college campus. Additional ornamentation includes jig-sawn bargeboards and detailing, appliqués under the window sills, bracketed hood molds, and a round-arched motif on the second-floor windows of both gables ends.

A historic photo of the Irvine House, taken shortly after its construction, shows no addition on the west side (see exhibit A).

However, Sanborn maps from the early 20th century show a small, one-story building connected to the house by a porch, and later by an enclosed walkway."' The frame addition does show in another early photo (see Exhibit B), although it is a different alignment from the present configuration. Mrs. Berna Sillure Cooke, a granddaughter of George and Rebecca Irvine, recalls that the addition served as a kitchen or dining area where Mrs. Irvine sometimes provided meals for boarders. [10] The home has been slightly altered by the addition of a small shed porch on the front and by the loss of some minor detailing over the years. The current owners, Randy, and Donna Wright plan to replace some of the ornamentations as time and funds permit.