Jefferson Playhouse
Jefferson, Marion County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Built about 1860 by Robert W. Nesmith, a contractor of stage lines. After several changes in ownership, house was purchased 1869 for Sisters of Charity and used as their convent, hospital and school (called St. Mary's). In 1875, property was bought by Sinai Hebrew Congregation of Jefferson. An auditorium was added, and served as the local synagogue until about 1900. Owned and restored by the Jessie Allen Wise Garden Club. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1965
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Built about 1860 by stage-line contractor Robert W. Nesmith, this Jefferson building led a remarkable series of lives. In 1869 the Sisters of Charity bought it for their convent, hospital, and school, St. Mary's; in 1875 the Sinai Hebrew Congregation acquired it, added an auditorium, and used it as their synagogue until about 1900. It was later restored by the Jessie Allen Wise Garden Club as a playhouse.
Why it matters
Few buildings so vividly show the religious and cultural diversity of a Reconstruction-era East Texas river port, serving Catholic sisters and a Jewish congregation within a single generation.
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Related people
- · Robert W. Nesmith
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Jefferson Public Library
Jefferson, TX
Built in 1907 with local funds and a grant from Andrew Carnegie's foundation, this was one of thirty-four Carnegie libraries in Texas — a state where the public-library movement had taken root as early as 1881. It became a cultural center in a town that prized learning. Its survival reflects Jefferson's long-standing civic pride.
Immaculate Conception Catholic Church
Jefferson, TX
The Catholic parish of Immaculate Conception began in 1863 when Father Jean Marie Giraud held Mass for the faithful of Jefferson, then a booming riverport. Members completed their first building by 1867, opened a school in 1869, and moved to the present site the following year, making the parish a hub for East Texas missions. Though fire destroyed the church in 1992, the congregation rebuilt and remains a spiritual center for the town today.
Sterne Fountain
Jefferson, TX
Jacob and Ernestine Sterne settled in the riverport town of Jefferson before the Civil War and became civic pillars, helping run the post office and shaping its cultural life — part of the outsized role Jewish families played in the town's rise. In 1913 their children honored them by giving the city a cast-iron fountain from New York's J.L. Mott Foundry, crowned with sculptor Giuseppe Moretti's statue of Hebe, Greek goddess of youth. Designed to water people and animals alike, it still marks the family's legacy.
Alice Emmert Home
Jefferson, TX
Built about 1868 in the late Greek Revival style and later dressed with Victorian details, this Jefferson home was purchased in 1898 by Alice Emmert, one of the first women elected to public office in Texas. She served as county superintendent of education from 1908 to 1920. In a further brush with history, young Claudia Taylor—the future Lady Bird Johnson—boarded here from 1924 to 1926 while attending school.