Durst - Taylor House
Nacogdoches, Nacogdoches County, Texas
Marker Inscription
The family of Andres de Acosta, who settled in Nacogdoches in 1779, owned this property as early as 1809. Acosta sold the property, which included a house to Joseph Durst (1789-1843) in 1827. Durst, who was Alcalde of Nacogdoches when he bought the property, sold it in 1836 to David Hoffman, then Alcalde. It included a house. The architecture of this dwelling is representative of a traditional house form of Anglo settlers in East Texas. It features gable end chimneys, slightly tapered square columns and balustrade, and paneled shutters. It is possible that this restored structure dates prior to 1827, but it is more probable, because of its Anglo characteristics, to have been constructed during Durst's tenure. Subsequent owners of the house include: Issac W. Burton, veteran of the Battle of San Jacinto; Bennett Blake, delegate to the 1875 Constitutional Convention; Thomas J. Rusk, signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence and one of Texas' first two United States Senators; and William Ochiltree, member of the Provisional Congress of the Confederacy. Lawrence S. Taylor (1842-1925), Civil War veteran and Nacogdoches County clerk, acquired the property in 1870. The property remained in the Taylor family until 1989. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1995
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This East Texas dwelling sits on land held since the days of Spanish Nacogdoches, owned by the family of a 1779 settler and sold in 1827 to Joseph Durst, then the town's alcalde. Its gable-end chimneys, tapered columns, and paneled shutters mark it as a traditional Anglo settler house, likely built during Durst's tenure in the Mexican-Texas years. Its later owners read like a roll call of Texas history — a San Jacinto veteran, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, a Confederate congressman — before a Civil War veteran's family held it for over a century.
Why it matters
The house traces East Texas across Spanish, Mexican, Republic, and Confederate eras through the changing hands of the men who shaped each.
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Related people
- · Joseph Durst
- · Thomas J. Rusk
- · Lawrence S. Taylor
- · Isaac W. Burton
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Site of "Old Soledad"
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Before 1800, this spot was known across East Texas as "Old Soledad," the headquarters of William Barr and Samuel Davenport, licensed traders who did business with the region's Native nations. In the Spanish borderlands, such traders were the crucial go-betweens, exchanging manufactured goods for hides and deerskins and knitting frontier economies together. A 1936 state marker fixes the site's place in that vanished world.
Governor Marquis de San Miguel de Aguayo
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Governor Martin de Alarcon in East Texas
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John S. Roberts
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