T. F. Birmingham - Wylie, TX
Posted by: 
WalksfarTX
N 33° 01.048 W 096° 32.339
14S E 729881 N 3655913
Statue depicts T.F. and his wife Hattie and they would have looked in 1940. Statue is located in front of their Queen Anne Style home.
Waymark Code: WM1313W
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 08/23/2020
Views: 0
The statue is of middle aged man and woman standing next to each other. The male has short hair and is clean shaven. He is wearing glasses. He is wearing a suit with a bow tie at his neck. The woman is also wearing glasses and her hair is caught up in a bun on the back of her head. She is wearing a floor length dress with sleeves that end just below her elbows. Flowers adorn her breast and in her hands she has a large feather.
Wylie ISD
"Thomas Franklin “Frank” Birmingham was born in Bebee, Arkansas in 1869. After moving to Uvalde, Texas for his dad to practice medicine, Frank graduated from high school and decided to attend college at Baylor University. He graduated at the young age of 20 in 1889, and moved to the new little town of Wylie, Texas. Though his father wanted him to be a doctor like he was, Frank wanted to be a business man.
After moving to Wylie for a job, Frank started a courtship with Hattie Housewright, who would later become Mrs. Frank Birmingham in 1893.
In 1901, Frank Birmingham helped found the tax district that created the Wylie Independent School District. He served as the first Wylie ISD School Board President. He funded the construction of our first high school, Birmingham High School, which cost over $100,000 in the early 1900’s. He donated a manual arts building and created a memorial scholarship in honor of his late sister, Pearl Birmingham. Additionally, he printed and put in each classroom, copies of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution.
In 1940 on this 50th wedding anniversary, he and his wife created a land trust in memory of their son, Ovid, who died in the 1911 west Texas oilfield epidemic. Ovid was returned to Wylie and buried in the town's cemetery. For all of his generosity, all Frank asked was that students who benefited from the programs he helped to create, place flowers on his son's grave each year. The Birmingham Land trust has given Wylie ISD over $10,000,000 during the past 70 years. In the spring of each year, students from Wylie High School and Wylie East High School still place flowers on the grave of Ovid Birmingham, 100 years after his death."
The statue is of middle aged man and woman standing next to each other. The male has short hair and is clean shaven. He is wearing glasses. He is wearing a suit with a bow tie at his neck. The woman is also wearing glasses and her hair is caught up in a bun on the back of her head. She is wearing a floor length dress with sleeves that end just below her elbows. Flowers adorn her breast and in her hands she has a large feather.