In 1908, S.S. Dillow purchased the lot for his house at 3216 E. Rosedale; construction was complete in 1912. Dillow owned Polytechnic’s first business, a grocery store at 3200 E. Rosedale which he started in 1892 subsequent to founding of Polytechnic College (now Texas Wesleyan College – TWU). Dillow also was president of the First State Bank of Polytechnic and president of the Polytechnic School Board. Mr. Dillow lived in the house until his death in 1931, and his daughter, Audrey, occupied the house until her death in 1982. She taught school in Fort Worth for thirty years. A Texas Wesleyan graduate, Audrey donated the house in 1979 to TWU which used it for its alumni offices and as the headquarters of the Polytechnic Heights Main Street Program. The Dillow is one of the oldest and largest residential structures in the Polytechnic area. A two-story building clad in fine ochre brick with black highlights, the house has a full porch which extends around to the east elevation. The cornice has a wide soffit with carved brackets, and the hipped roof has a large hipped roof dormer. The house was restored and renovated in 1982 by TWU. The Dillow House was eligible for the National Register because of its historic importance and its architectural merit. In 1990, the university received a local historic designation on the property. TWU continued to use the house as its alumni headquarters until 2007. The property sat vacant until 2013. During that time, the house was damaged by two fires and vandalism. On Monday, September 23, 2013, a two-alarm fire broke out in the property and much of the property was destroyed.
