Weisman-Hirsch House
Marshall, Harrison County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Before department store owner Joe Weisman (1848-1918) married Lena Young in 1881, her father deeded this property to Weisman. The first home burned and this structure was built in 1901. The architect was C. G. Lancaster who also designed the Ginocchio Hotel. Later the Weismans' daughter Valerie and her husband Joe Nathan Hirsch (1883-1966) occupied the house. the Weisman-Hirsch residence was a social center for Jewish citizens of East Texas. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1979
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
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.
Why it matters
The home is a rare window into Jewish immigrant and merchant life in the small-town South, where such families built both businesses and community.
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Related people
- · Joe Weisman
- · Lena Young Weisman
- · Valerie Weisman Hirsch
- · Joe Nathan Hirsch
- · C. G. Lancaster
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
The Hub Shoe Store
Marshall, TX
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.
C.G. Lancaster
Marshall, TX
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.
Arnot House
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Blacksmith Albert M. Arnot built this Marshall, Texas, house in 1848, blending Greek Revival and Creole styling with an above-ground basement that held a dining room, harness shop, and cellar. Its later owners read like a roster of immigrant America — a German mill operator, the wife of a local Jewish merchant, and an Irish cobbler who set up his shop on the property. Each left a mark on the home's long history.
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.