Early Jefferson Lodge Building
Jefferson, Marion County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Built in the late 1850s, this building first housed the Jefferson Masonic Lodge. A number of businesses were located here during the Civil War, and later it was used by the Knights and Ladies of Honor of Myrtle and the Knights of Honor of Jefferson. Exhibiting elements of the Italianate style, this is the last remaining example of the commercial-row structures which served Jefferson's Dallas Street wharf front during its heydey as an inland port. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1990
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Raised in the late 1850s to house the Jefferson Masonic Lodge, this Italianate building saw businesses come and go through the Civil War and later sheltered fraternal orders like the Knights of Honor. It survives as the last of the commercial-row structures that once lined Dallas Street near Jefferson's busy wharf. In its day this was among the most important inland ports in Texas.
Why it matters
The building recalls Jefferson's brief reign as a thriving riverport, when steamboat commerce made it one of Texas's leading commercial towns before the railroads passed it by.
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Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Jay Gould Railroad Car
Jefferson, TX
Built in 1888, the private railway car "Atlanta" carried the Gilded Age financier Jay Gould, whose empire included the Union Pacific, Missouri Pacific, and Texas and Pacific railroads. Fitted with observation rooms, staterooms, baths, a kitchen, and dining room in mahogany and curly maple, it was a rolling mansion. Passed down through the Gould family, it later served as a residence during the 1930s East Texas oil boom before being preserved at Jefferson in 1954.
Old Federal Court and Post Office Building
Jefferson, TX
From 1890 to 1964 this Jefferson building housed the U.S. court for the Eastern District of Texas and the town's post office, long after the riverport's steamboat heyday had faded. Preserved rather than razed, it now serves as a museum recalling the era when federal justice and the mail passed through its doors.
Captain William Perry
Jefferson, TX
Arriving about 1840, William Perry helped turn Jefferson into a thriving inland port, running a shipping business and dredging a turning basin so boats could work the Big Cypress Bayou. He grew wealthy in land and shipping, tried his luck in the California gold rush, and served as Jefferson's mayor in 1863–64 before being fatally shot on his way home after midnight in 1869.
Excelsior House
Jefferson, TX
The oldest hotel in East Texas, the Excelsior House began as a frame building in the 1850s, with a brick wing added in 1864. During Jefferson's heyday as a bustling riverport, its guest register reportedly included Presidents Ulysses S. Grant and Rutherford B. Hayes and the poet Oscar Wilde. Rescued from decline, it was restored in the early 1960s by the Jessie Allen Wise Garden Club.