Bill and Maude Dodson House was the home of Farmers Branch's first mayor. William F. (Bill) Dodson, a native of Malakoff, married Maude Gilmore in Fort Worth in July 1917. The following May, Bill became a private in the 36th Infantry Division and served in France's Meuse-Argonne sector during the First World War. Their son Smith was born in November 1918. After the war, the family lived in Dallas and became active in real estate and oil. They moved to Farmers Branch in the 1930s and had contractor Ross Faulkner design a house to Maude's specifications. Completed by 1937, the house was originally closer to Farmers Branch Creek but was moved to its present site in 1942. In January 1946, when Bill Dodson learned that Dallas planned to annex the Farmers Branch community, he and his neighbors circulated a petition for a local incorporation election. Citizens approved incorporation, and in April they elected Dodson as the first mayor, with H.O. Good, Lawson Lewis, Raymond Milloway, Thomas Reeder, and Glenn Templin as the first aldermen. The new city council held three meetings in the house, with others at Mason Lodge No. 395, where Dodson was a member. During his two-year term, Farmers Branch hired its first city employees, established a fire department and water system, and joined the League of Texas Municipalities. Maude remained in the house until 1983 and then donated it to the city as the core of a heritage park. The one-story Colonial Revival frame house has telescoping wings, side gables, wood siding, six-over-one windows, and a slender pedimented entry with square columns.