Link House, The
Palestine, Anderson County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Built and continuously occupied by family of early Palestine physician Henry Harnsbarger Link (1820 - 90) and wife, Hypatia McGee (1829 - 88). First rooms, built 1852, now form front hall. Dr. H. R. Link, one of builders' three sons, remodeled house in 1912. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1972
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This Palestine home was built and continuously occupied by the family of early physician Henry Harnsbarger Link and his wife, Hypatia McGee. The first rooms, raised in 1852 when Texas was barely a state, now form the front hall of the house. One of the couple's three sons, Dr. H. R. Link, remodeled the residence in 1912, and it was named a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark in 1972.
Why it matters
A pioneer doctor's home, lived in by one family across generations, embodies the continuity of early Texas settlement as a rough frontier matured into an established town.
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Related people
- · Henry Harnsbarger Link
- · Hypatia McGee Link
- · H. R. Link
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Col. G. R. Howard House
Palestine, TX
Col. G.R. Howard, a merchant and public official, built this Palestine residence in 1851, in the years when East Texas was filling with new arrivals and commerce. His family held the house for well over a century before selling it to the city in 1965 for use as a museum. It was named a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark the following year.
Anderson County
Palestine, TX
Anderson County was created from Houston County on March 24, 1846, and organized that July with Palestine as its seat, just months after Texas joined the Union. It was named to honor Kenneth Lewis Anderson, who had served as vice-president of the Republic of Texas in its final years.
First Baptist Church of Palestine
Palestine, TX
Organized in 1851, just five years after Palestine became the Anderson County seat, this Baptist congregation first worshiped in a shared chapel before building its own sanctuary in 1853 and hosting the state convention in 1854. A dramatic 1879 revival led by Major William Penn fueled a new building funded by nickel contributions, earning it the nickname the Avenue "Nickel" Baptist Church. Fire, rebuilding, and relocation carried the fellowship into the twentieth century.
Anderson County Courthouse
Palestine, TX
Anderson County was carved out by the Texas Legislature in 1846 and named for Kenneth L. Anderson, the last vice president of the Republic of Texas. Justice was first dispensed in a log house at Fort Houston, and the county worked through four courthouses — a frame building, two brick ones, and finally the grand Beaux-Arts structure completed in 1913-14 after fire claimed its predecessor. With giant Ionic columns and a dome crowned by a statue of Justice, the present courthouse still anchors the Palestine square.