HistoricSiteMarkers
Reconstruction & Gilded Age

Elias and Lucy Edmonds House

San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas

Marker Inscription

Former Confederate officer and Virginia state legislator Elias Edmonds married Lucy Noyes Hall in 1871, and in 1877, they built one of the first houses in the King William neighborhood. Elias was a successful lawyer, and Lucy began and operated a "high school for young ladies" on the grounds of their home. Prominent physician Amos Graves and his wife Katherine, a notable realtor, next owned the house, making some additions and alterations. Dr. Otto and Virginia Potthast lived here for more than forty years. The substantial two-story house features dressed and rough cut limestone and a deep full-height front porch and gallery. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2008

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

In 1877, former Confederate officer and Virginia legislator Elias Edmonds and his wife Lucy built one of the first houses in San Antonio's new King William neighborhood. Elias practiced law while Lucy ran a "high school for young ladies" on the grounds of their home. The handsome two-story limestone house later passed through prominent physicians and realtors, with one family living here for more than four decades.

Why it matters

The house reflects both the Gilded Age growth of San Antonio's fashionable German district and the era's women who opened schools to educate a new generation of girls.

Plan your visit

Nearby

Make a day of it — museums, food, and places to stay near this marker.

Museums & culture

Attractions

Food & drink

Places to stay

Places data © OpenStreetMap contributors. Hours and details change — call ahead.

Own a business near here? Add it to the map.

Related people

  • · Elias Edmonds
  • · Lucy Noyes Hall Edmonds

Themes & tags

Nearby & related markers

Maverick-Carter House

San Antonio, TX

Built in 1893 for real-estate developer William Harvey Maverick—son of Texas Declaration of Independence signer Samuel Maverick—this three-story limestone mansion rose on the banks of the San Antonio River and was designed by the prominent architect Alfred Giles. In 1914 it passed to attorney H.C. Carter, whose wife Aline added a rooftop observatory and a chapel and served as Texas poet laureate from 1947 to 1949. A noted astronomer and artist, she taught the stars to local children and hosted Christmas parties for San Antonio orphans here.

Myra Lillian Davis Hemmings

San Antonio, TX

Born in Gonzales and raised in San Antonio, Myra Hemmings became one of 22 founders of the Delta Sigma Theta sorority at Howard University in 1913, and days later marched in the women's suffrage procession in Washington. Returning home, she taught English and drama in San Antonio's Black high schools for more than fifty years while founding the city's Delta Sigma Theta chapter and, with her husband, a dramatic guild. She also acted in stage productions and several feature films, shaping the cultural life of Black San Antonio.

Adina Emilia de Zavala

San Antonio, TX

Granddaughter of the Republic of Texas's first vice-president, Adina De Zavala became a teacher, historian, and one of the state's earliest and most determined preservationists. She helped save the Alamo's Long Barracks from demolition — famously barricading herself inside in 1907 — and worked to protect the Spanish missions, the Governor's Palace, and other landmarks. In 1938 she founded an association that installed dozens of historical markers across Texas.

Eagar House

San Antonio, TX

Just off Alamo Street stands a six-room stone house built at the close of the Civil War for Sarah Eagar, born in 1842 and remembered as the first Anglo-American girl born in San Antonio. The land, bordered by the old Alamo acequia, came to her as a wedding gift from her father. The irrigation ditch has long since vanished, but the house endures behind a screen of greenery.