The Hub Shoe Store
Marshall, Harrison County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Mose Weisman opened Hub Shoe Store on E. Austin Street in 1897. The Weisman family emigrated from Bavaria, Germany, to Syracuse, New York, and then to Marshall in the late 1840s, becoming part of the town’s thriving Jewish community. Weisman’s nephew, Louis W. Kariel, purchased the business in 1924. Kariel, a World War I veteran, later became Marshall’s first Jewish mayor. His son, Louis W. Kariel, Jr., became the store’s sole owner in 1969 and continued a tradition of service as a city leader. The Hub Shoe Store closed in 2001 and today it and its proprietors continue to be remembered for a legacy of commerce and service in the Marshall community. 175 Years of Texas Independence * 1836-2011
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Mose Weisman opened the Hub Shoe Store on Marshall's East Austin Street in 1897, part of a Bavarian-Jewish family that had made its way from Germany to Syracuse and on to East Texas. His nephew Louis Kariel, a World War I veteran, took over in 1924 and became Marshall's first Jewish mayor—a tradition of civic service his son carried on. The store served the town for more than a century before closing in 2001.
Why it matters
The Hub's four generations trace how Jewish immigrant merchants put down roots in small-town Texas and rose to civic leadership, weaving immigration into the fabric of Main Street America.
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Related people
- · Mose Weisman
- · Louis W. Kariel
- · Louis W. Kariel, Jr.
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Weisman-Hirsch House
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Department store owner Joe Weisman received this Marshall property from his father-in-law before marrying Lena Young in 1881; after the first house burned, this one rose in 1901, designed by C. G. Lancaster, architect of the Ginocchio Hotel. The Weismans' daughter Valerie and her husband Joe Nathan Hirsch later made it their home. For years the residence served as a social center for the Jewish community of East Texas.
Elks Building
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Designed by prominent East Texas architect Cornelius Granville Lancaster, the 1903 Elks Building was conceived as a showpiece of Marshall's downtown shopping district. It served as headquarters for Elks Lodge 683, which had organized in 1901 at Newman Hall, and hosted the lodge's meetings and events until 1953. The building remains a Recorded Texas Historic Landmark.
Joe Weisman and Company
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Joe Weisman, a Jewish merchant born in Syracuse, New York, in 1847, followed an uncle to Marshall, Texas, in 1866 and drew five siblings after him. In 1878 he founded Joe Weisman and Company, which grew from a mercantile store into a downtown department store and, through the intermarried Hirsch family, stayed in operation for more than a century. Devout members of Temple Moses Montefiore, the Weismans and Hirsches poured support into local churches, charities, and schools including Wiley College and the future East Texas Baptist University.
C.G. Lancaster
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Born in Marshall in 1863, Cornelius Granberry Lancaster studied architecture at Texas A&M and returned home to design many of his town's landmarks, from the Ginnochio Hotel to city hall and the Elks Club. In 1895 he partnered with San Antonio architect James Riely Gordon on the Beaux-Arts Harrison County courthouse, and over his long career his work traced the shifting fashions of American architecture from Richardsonian Romanesque to Classical Revival. The Depression forced his practice to close in 1939, after which he supervised WPA projects in Dallas until his death in 1947.