Poole-Parker House
Galveston, Galveston County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This Greek revival cottage was built in the 1860s by W. G. Boepple on land he bought from Valentine Poole, a local cattle dealer who again became the owner in 1872. In 1886 the home was sold to the estate of "Galveston News" editor Willard B. Richardson. Later his daughter caroline managed the property. She was the wife of Dr. H. P. Cooke, city health officer and dean of the state medical branch here. In 1935 the house was sold to John A. and Emma Jeanne Parker. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1980
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This modest Greek Revival cottage went up in the 1860s in bustling Galveston, then Texas's greatest port, and passed through a succession of the island's leading citizens—a cattle dealer, the family of a prominent newspaper editor, and a physician who served as city health officer. Each owner left a mark on the little home, which survived into the twentieth century as a witness to Galveston's Gilded Age.
Why it matters
Galveston was the commercial gateway of nineteenth-century Texas, and its surviving homes preserve the texture of the merchants, editors, and doctors who built the young state's most important city.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Valentine Poole
- · Willard B. Richardson
- · W.G. Boepple
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Hagemann-Cobb House
Galveston, TX
Galveston grocer John Hagemann and his wife Jerusha built this ornate Italianate–Queen Anne house in 1892, at the height of the island city's Gilded Age prosperity. In 1932 it passed to Thomas and Laura Ella Cobb; a city health inspector, Cobb headed the local Brewer's Union and was active in community politics. The home's wraparound veranda, curved metal roof, and Eastlake detailing make it a showpiece of late-Victorian Galveston architecture.
Gail Borden, Jr.
Galveston, TX
On this Galveston site stood the home of Gail Borden, Jr., surveyor, newspaper editor, and restless inventor, who lived here from 1837 to 1851. It was here in 1840 that he began the experiments leading to his process for condensing milk — a breakthrough that would transform food preservation and feed armies and cities for generations. Borden embodied the inventive energy of early Texas even as his work reached far beyond it.
Samuel May Williams
Galveston, TX
Born in Rhode Island in 1795, Samuel May Williams became one of the most influential figures of early Texas as the intimate friend and colony secretary of Stephen F. Austin. A pioneer banker who handled important commissions for the colony, Republic, and state, he lived out his life in Galveston, dying there in 1858. This state monument honors a man remembered for years of patriotic and self-sacrificing service.
Wilbur Cherry
Galveston, TX
A New York-born young man who came of age with the Texas Republic, Wilbur Cherry served in the Texas army during the revolutionary year of 1836 before turning to the printed word. In 1843 he purchased the Galveston News, joining the ranks of the frontier newspapermen who knit together public life in a scattered new nation. His Irish-born wife, Catherine, outlived him by decades, their intertwined lives marking Galveston's growth from Republic-era port to Gilded Age city.