By P.A. Geddie
First time visitors to Palestine, Texas, are often surprised by the intriguing architecture, art sculptures, and murals found at every turn. Second only to Galveston in the number of historic sites in the state, Palestine has more than 1,800 noteworthy sites including buildings, homes, monuments, churches, cemeteries, and museums.
The town’s active visitor center has a lengthy list of tours and other things to do sure to please anyone interested in architecture and visual arts. Guests can follow detailed descriptions on their website or download an app for self-guided driving and walking tours.
Anderson County Courthouse
The Anderson County Courthouse was built of brick and limestone in the Classical Revival style and completed in 1914 for $150,000. It appears to be square, but this is an optical illusion. The east and west faces are longer. It features Beaux-Arts architecture with a double-spiral staircase and a beautiful stained glass montage in the dome as well as a special beautiful design in the marble basement floor. It underwent restoration in 1986 and is a National Historical Landmark.
Bralys Ace Hardware
Named the “Coolest Store on the Planet” by Ace Hardware in 2014, Bralys is family owned and operated in the old Rusk Elementary school building. The family — in business since 1932 — moved their store to this location after careful renovations in 2013. They kept the old feel of the school house, preserving the historical character of the building. Each classroom was turned into a department. The principal, vice principal, and the nurse’s offices became the store offices. The Bralys chose an older movie-style sign to hang on the outside of the building.
Other preservation efforts including using as much of what was in the school house as possible. Chalkboards were cut down to make aisle signs, easels, and other signage throughout the store. Teachers’ supply cabinets display products through the store and lockers, in original condition, house rain gear and other items for sale.
The school’s old cafeteria serves as the back-stock area while the former stage serves as the “man cave” showcasing sporting good items.
Historic Churches
About 30 churches in Palestine have earned Texas State Historical markers that outline their formations in the 1800s or so and contributions to the city. One of the most frequently visited locations is the Sacred Heart Catholic Church located downtown on North Queen Street. Built in 1893 from bricks moulded and baked on site, the church is now more than 130 years old. Architect Nicholas J. Clayton designed the church in the Victorian Gothic style.
Decorative features include stained glass from Italy and France, a painted interior dome resembling Noah’s ark, and a Pilcher pipe organ. The interior features plastered walls and fixtures built of oak, pine, and marble.
The church was a key structure in Palestine’s history, providing a place of worship, ceremony, and celebration for the town’s working class immigrants. It still plays a vibrant role in the community and offers daily services in English and Spanish, which are free and open to the public.
Historic Homes with Markers
The Visit Palestine website notes 11 historic homes with state historic markers commemorating stories of original owners, history, and architecture. The John Starr House for instance was built in 1848 for Starr and his wife Susannah who was the aunt of famed Indian captive Cynthia Ann Park. Another popular home is what some call the “Steamboat House.” Located at 412 South Royall Street — near many other historic homes — it features sloped mansard roofs, dormer windows, and octagonal pavilions making it a rare example of French Second Empire architecture. The home was built for merchant, pioneer, and local banker Nathaniel Royster Royall and his wife Annie Richardson, and much of its stylings were likely inspired by homes Royall saw in Galveston. Remarkably, the home is still in the Royall family to this day.
Historic Downtown Walking Tour
Twelve historic buildings are well documented in the downtown area including the Texas Theatre, the Carnegie Library, and Redlands Hotel.
The Texas theater opened in 1917 for the purpose of Vaudeville performances before becoming a movie theater in 1923. The current structure is a prime example of Spanish colonial architecture and was designed as an atmospheric movie palace. In its earliest days, it had an organ which played background music for silent movies.
The Texas Theatre is now home of Palestine Community Theatre troupe presenting live performances throughout the year including Guy’s and Dolls, Harvey, The Wizard of Oz, Man of La Mancha, Clue: The Musical and Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.
The Palestine Carnegie Library was recently renovated and is one of only five Carnegie buildings that serves as a public library in Texas. Carnegie libraries were built with donations from Andrew Carnegie, a New York industrialist and philanthropist, between 1886 and 1919. Carnegie believed that education was a way to improve people’s lives, and libraries were one of the main tools he used to help Americans.
In March of 1915, The Redlands Hotel opened in Palestine with fanfare and excitement as the finest Texas hotel outside Galveston. The building features tile floors by Italian artisans, a magnificent stained glass skylight, a spacious outdoor balcony, and an ornate dining room.
The Redlands entertained guests and gatherings for just four years before the International & Great Northern Railway purchased it to house the company’s headquarters from 1919 until 1956, when the company moved to a new building at 300 Bowers Street, owned today by Union Pacific Railroad.
The former office building sat vacant until 1976, when investors purchased it and began a 35-year process of restoring its original purpose as the region’s prime hotel. Today, The Redlands Hotel is a destination all its own with attractive suites for a few days and extended stays. On site is the Queen St. Grille for fine dining, a bar, a gift shop, and an art gallery. .
Historic Northside Driving Tour
Historical buildings in the Northside Driving Tour include 43 stops, most of them renovated homes. It also includes the Texas Jailhouse and sites in Old Town Palestine.
The Howard House at 1011 North Perry was built in 1851 for George and Cornelia Howard. It is a classic example of a center passage dwelling with Greek Revival style features. Colonel George Robert Howard (1818-1900) was a North Carolina native and arrived in Palestine in 1848 and moved into this house in 1851 following his marriage to Cornelia Ann Cox (1829-1909). After purchasing the house, the couple made several small additions to the house and applied the architectural detailing that is classic for a Greek Revival vernacular house. Colonel Howard held several elected offices including county treasurer, county clerk, district clerk, representative to the Texas Legislature and mayor of Palestine. After his death in 1900, his son Thomas Howard (1870-1927) and his wife Gertrude Pugh Howard moved into the dwelling. Thomas was a manager for the Houston Chronicle. After her husband’s death in 1927, “Miss Gertie” continued as the principal of the Alamo School for many years. After her death in the 1960’s the house was sold to the city and operates as a historical museum.
The Texas Jailhouse was built in 1931 in Art Deco style and served as the county jail for almost 55 years. Today the historic facility is home to events as the Haunted Little Jail in October and the Grinch’s Lair during November and December.
Located in Old Town Palestine is the Shelton Gin Company with a two-story industrial sheet metal building built in 1920. It formerly housed a cotton gin which operated into the 1940s. The Shelton Gin is now a bar and night club. It sits among other quaint businesses in this vibrant little popular historic district including unique boutiques, the Oxbow Pie Company, and Pint & Barrel Drafthouse.
Historic Southside Driving Tour
This tour featured 61 stops including Reagan Park, numerous renovates homes, and the site of the Dilley Foundry built in 1873.
Reagan Park is named for Palestine resident John Henninger Reagan (1818-1905). He was a Texas pioneer, Postmaster General of the Confederacy, first chairman of the Texas Railroad commission, a U.S. Senator and the principal author of the Interstate Commerce bill.
The statue of John H. Reagan in the southeast corner of the park, was sculpted by Italian-Texas artist Pompeo Coppini in 1908, and cast in Rome, Italy. Reagan was called “The Old Roman.” The monument, considered one of Coppini’s best works, was dedicated in the park on July 6, 1911.
The monument is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. It features Reagan standing in front of a chair with his arm thrown outward in an oratorical pose. Seated below him and deep in thought is a Roman soldier who symbolizes the “Lost Cause of the Confederacy.”
Reagan encouraged the people of Texas to recognize the war’s outcome, emancipation and suffrage of their former slaves and the terms of the federal government. This act of sacrificing his personal popularity for the good of the people of Texas acquired him the honored nickname. An inscription on the statue reads “The Old Roman’s highest ambition was to do his full duty; consciousness of having done it was his ample reward.”
The remains of G.M. Dilley & Sons Foundry is at 801 May Street. It originally included more than 10 buildings. The foundry manufactured gray iron castings for Texas railroads. Raw pig iron was shipped to the foundry from India, Rotterdam, and Birmingham. The Dilley’s ceased plant operation in 1945. The Victorian frame office building and brick brass furnace building are all that are left standing, along with the iron fence fronting the property. After the foundry closed, renowned local artist Ancel E. Nunn utilized this location for his workspace. The Bright and Early Coffee mural is located at this site.
Black History & Heritage Tour
History and undertold stories of former enslaved African Americans and their descendants is depicted in this tour with 15 stops including McKnight Plaza, which was an incubator for Black entrepreneurial spirit in the early part of the century. The plaza was located downtown in the heart of New Town where the First National Bank Building now stands on Avenue A and Spring Street. The social and business center for the Black community, the two story brick building held all-Black businesses, and was anchored by the Farmers and Citizens Savings Bank organized in 1906 by Henry L. Price, born a slave. The bank operated under the umbrella of the Royall National Bank until 1926, when the building was razed. Three physicians had offices here. Other known businesses were two cab companies, a millinery shop, a dry goods store, an insurance agents, an undertaker, Mo-Pac Colored Booster Club, a dentist and barber shop. Close by on Avenue A was the Tatum Café. The Ritz Theater on Main Street, allowed Black people to sit in the balcony.
Art Sculptures & Murals
The historical and architectural aspects of Palestine are balanced well with colorful art seen along the downtown streets. Art Tracks, a juried exhibit, features a dozen or so outdoor sculptures.
Also throughout the city are 28 murals depicting the town’s history and fun signs of today.
Artist Diego Baracaldo designed the “History of Palestine” mural on the Herald Press building to depict a chronological sequence for the development of the City of Palestine, Texas, since its founding in 1846. The sequence is meant to read from right to left. The main idea circles around the city’s most important aspect and the cause of its rapid growth: transportation. The first panel shows navigation through the Trinity River and the Anderson County Courthouse. The second panel depicts early settlers and railroad workers.
The wall is divided by the popular dogwood blooms creating a rest in the composition. Third panel points to the cultural aspect of Palestine with the Texas Theater and the· beautiful Victorian architecture. Baracaldo chose the Lucas-Davey Home because Martin A. Davey, one of its owners, discovered several oil fields in the region which why there are several oil derricks behind the house. Finally, the fourth panel depicts the spinal cord of Palestine, the Texas State Railroad. The steam locomotive joins the Lone Star to represent the State’s flag while the woman on her horse gallops towards her bright future.
Diego Baracaldo used an impressionist style, meaning the use of shapes and colors to represent realism. The colors are vivid and bleed into each other allowing for the eyes to blend them. AII colors and shapes are arranged so the design can be appreciated better from a distance and at the same time be a pleasant backdrop for visitors’ pictures.
Palestine offers a variety of dining, shopping, lodging, and other things to do throughout the year to round out a fulfilling destination experience. Go to VisitPalestine.com for more details.