History
Jacobs Home
In 1884, Mrs. Barbara Lenz (Lentz) Jacobs (1831-1908), the widow of Christopher Jacobs, purchased a small cottage on this lot from Ferdinand and Caroline Müller (Miller). In 1885, Mrs. Jacobs, a prominent midwife, built a new, two-story house designed by well-known Texas architect, Nicholas J. Clayton, for her family of six children.
History
James Love
(1795-1874) A veteran of the War of 1812, James Love, a lawyer, came to Texas in 1837 with his wife Lucy (Ballinger). He helped found Galveston, and was a political ally of Mirabeau b. Lamar. Love served as a delegate to the 1845 Annexation Convention, judge of the district court, and clerk of the United States District Court. During the Civil War (1861-1865) he enlisted in Terry's Texas Rangers.
History
James N. Davis House
James Nathaniel "Nat" Davis (d. 1902) built this two-story galleried residence in 1899. The designer was Charles W. Bulger, a Galveston architect. As a reporter for the Galveston Daily News, Davis wrote some of the earliest accounts of the destructive 1900 hurricane. After he drowned two years later, his wife Ella (Rust) rented several rooms of the house.
History
James S. Waters House
The East End Historic District, which initiated development in the area immediately east of Galveston's Downtown Business District, saw its busiest period of construction during the last two decades of the 19th century. Many of the city's government and business leaders built large and architecturally significant houses, including county treasurer James Stephen Waters.
History
Jean Lafitte
Notorious pirate. Settled here in 1817 with his buccaneers and ships; under Mexican flag, continued his forays against Spanish shipping in the Gulf. On this site, he built his home, Maison Rouge (Red House), which was part of his fort; and upper story was pierced for cannon. It was luxuriously furnished with booty from captured ships.
History
Jessie May McGuire Dent
Born in Galveston on March 24, 1892 to Robert and Alberta (Mabson) McGuire, Jessie May McGuire Dent was an important Galveston Civil Rights figure. In 1909, she graduated as valedictorian from Central High School. While a student at Howard University, she became one of the 22 founding members of Delta Sigma Theta sorority in 1913.
Architecture
John and Eliza Hertford House
John and Eliza Hertford bought three lots at this site in 1867 and built this house by 1869, the year of John's death. Eliza and her children continued to reside here until 1878. This house, originally a Greek revival-influenced design, was later modified with Victorian features, including decorative bargeboards and jigsawn porch details.
History
John Bankhead Magruder
(August 15, 1810 - February 19, 1871) Virginia native John Bankhead Magruder graduated from the U. S. Military Academy at West Point in 1830. For meritorious service in the Mexican War (1846-48) Magruder was promoted to lieutenant colonel. He later resigned from the U. S. Army to join the Confederacy in 1861.
History
John M. Jones House
John Maxwell Jones, a native of Delaware, came to Galveston in 1839 and opened a jewelry store on The Strand. Active in area commerce, he helped organize the First National Bank of Galveston. His wife Henrietta was the daughter of French composer Jacques Offenbach. This Greek revival house served as their home prior to 1867.
History
John Overton Trueheart
(ca. 1802-March 13, 1874) After coming to Texas from Virginia about 1838, John Trueheart received a land grant for his service with Jack Hays' Rangers. He then began a partnership in a Galveston General Land Agency with Memucan Hunt and returned to Virginia for his wife Anne Tompkins (Minor) (1804-86) and their children.
History
John Smith House
Irish immigrant and Galveston police officer John Smith had this home constructed at 3601 Post Office Street in 1890, where it later served to shelter victims of the 1900 storm. It was moved to this site in 1927. The home features an unusual four-bay configuration and a two-tiered gallery. The large floor-to-ceiling windows provided cooling and ventilation in the hot Gulf Coast summers.
History
Julius H. Ruhl Residence
A native of Prussia, Julius H. Ruhl came to Galveston in 1872. He served as cashier and clerk for the mercantile firm of Kauffman & Runge until his death in 1882. This home, which Ruhl had constructed in 1874-75, remained in his family until 1962.
History
Juneteenth
Commemorated annually on June 19th, Juneteenth is the oldest known celebration of the end of slavery in the U.S. the Emancipation Proclamation, issued by President Abraham Lincoln on Sep. 22, 1862, announced, "that on the 1st day of January, A.D. 1863, all persons held as slaves within any state'in rebellion against the U.S. shall be then, thenceforward and forever free.
History
Karankawa Campsite
In this area is one of several known Karankawa campsites or burial grounds. Now extinct, the nomadic Indians lived along the Texas coast, depending on the Gulf for survival. In 1528 they aided Spanish explorer Cabeza de Vaca, but resisted all intruders from the time of the French expedition of La Salle in 1685.
History
Kemah
Michael Gouldrich, one of Stephen F. Austin's original three hundred colonists, received a Mexican land grant here in 1824. Elizabeth S. Justice acquired a part of the property in 1853. By the early 1890s Abraham and Elizabeth (Justice) Kipp, their daughter Jane, and her husband, James Bradford, had acquired the balance of the original Gouldrich Mexican land grant.
History
La Marque
The land in this area, initially known as Highland Bayou, was part of a Republic of Texas land grant awarded to John D. Moore in 1838. The Galveston, Houston, and Henderson Railroad linked Galveston and Houston by 1860, and Highland Bayou, directly on the rail line, began a period of significant growth. A post office opened in 1869, and in 1886, in response to a request from the U.S.
History
Lafitte's Grove
Fort and settlement established here in 1817 by the freebooter Jean Lafitte who maintained headquarters here while preying on shipping in the Gulf of Mexico. The Battle of the Three Trees was fought here between Lafitte's men and Karankawa Indians, February, 1821. Fort abandoned and burned in 1821 by Lafitte after his departure was ordered by the United States government.
History
Landes-McDonough House
Confederate veteran and capitalist Henry A. Landes (1844-1919) had this house built in 1887-88. Designed by prominent architects George E. Dickey of Houston and D. A. Helmich, the house reportedly provided refuge to some 200 people during the disastrous 1900 hurricane. John P. McDonough, owner of a dry docks and ironworks business, purchased the property in 1911.
History
Lasker Home for Children
This two-story galleried Greek revival residence was built about 1870 by Galveston attorney Marcus C. McLemore (d. 1898). The Society for the Help of Homeless Children bought the home in 1901 for use as a charitable center. It was enlarged in 1912 with funds contributed by Morris Lasker (1840-1916), a local businessman. Changes included an expanded basement and an addition to the northwest corner.
History
League Park
Galveston land developer John Charles League (1849-1916) platted the townsite of League City soon after he purchased property here in 1890. Faced with the competition of an adjacent development known as the city of Clear Creek, League personally directed the planning of his town. Through his efforts, land was set aside for a school, a church, and this park.
History
Lent Munson Hitchcock
(October 15, 1816 - February 27, 1869) A sea captain's son who became a sailor at the age of 14, Lent Munson Hitchcock left his native Connecticut and joined the Texas Navy about 1836. Seafaring duties brought him to Galveston in 1837 where he later served as harbor master, city alderman, treasurer, and Confederate army volunteer.
History
Leon & H. Blum Co. Building
A young Alsatian immigrant, Leon Blum (1836-1906), joined his brother Alexander in a business partnership in Richmond, Texas, about 1852. The company, A.Blum & Bro., moved to Galveston in 1859. The new firm of Leon & H. Blum was founded late in 1868, composed of brothers, Leon, Alexander, and Sylvain, and cousins Hyman and Joseph.
History
Levi Charles Meyers Harby
(September 21, 1793 - December 3, 1870) Born in Georgetown, South Carolina, Levi Charles Myers Harby was the son of Solomon Harby and Rebecca Moses Harby. During the War of 1812, Levi served in the US Navy. He was commissioned as a midshipman and stationed at Charleston. After the capture of the British ship Providence, he was one of the officers placed on the prized ship.
History
Lockhart House
The first portion of this Queen Anne house was built before 1889 as a one-story cottage. About 1894, during the ownership of William B. Lockhart (1860-1923), it was enlarged by raising the original section to the second floor and adding a new ground floor. A son-in-law of Walter Gresham, builder of the Bishop's Palace, Lockhart became a prominent justice of county and federal courts.
History
Louis Trezevant Wigfall
(April 21, 1816 - February 18, 1874) Native South Carolinian, Sergeant in Seminole War, lawyer, member Texas Legislature, an ardent secessionist as United States Senator from 1859 to 1861, visited Fort Sumter with surrender demand as aide to General Beauregard, member Confederate States Provisional Congress, Colonel of 1st Texas Confederate Infantry, Brigadier-General in Confederate Infantry,…
Elsewhere in Texas
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