Beginning in 1986, more than 700,000 visitors each year from all over the world have flocked to Marshall, Texas, during November and December to see how one small town celebrates Christmas. The Wonderland of Lights Festival begins the day before Thanksgiving and extends to New Year's Eve. Its centerpiece is the magnificent courthouse on the city square which alone has 125,000 lights highlighting all four floors, the dome, extending even to Lady Justica on the top of the building. An additional 250,000 tiny bulbs light the courthouse square, adding to the seven million - almost 700 miles - of lights throughout the city of 25,000.
Construction for the renaissance-revival courthouse designed by J. Riely Gordon for Harrison County commenced in 1899 and was completed in 1900. The architect chose pink granite, marble and brick for its exterior. It is one of 12 county seats of government still standing of the reputed 72 designed by Gordon, arguably the most prolific courthouse architect in Texas. Others of his well-known edifices include those in Giddings Waxahachie, Denton, and Sulphur Springs.
In 1965, when the old courthouse was abandoned for larger county government facilities across the square, the J. Riely Gordon courthouse slowly became the Harrison County Historical Museum. Beginning with two rooms, the museum has expanded to take in all of the building except part of the west wing, now occupied by the Marshall/Harrison County Health Department - although it should be in handicapped-accessible quarters sometime in 1998.
In 1995, the Harrison County Museum Society assumed the lead in determining that the valuable old building needed more than just a facelift. It was soon discovered that it would take at least $5.1 million to restore it, make it accessible for all, and properly preserve and display the thousands of artifacts, as well as the ever-expanding research and genealogical library.
The Courthouse Centennial Campaign, chaired by prominent Marshall attorney Franklin Jones, Jr., and directed by museum consultant and author Conover Hunt, is committed to raising the funds by the year 2001 - the 100th birthday of the building.
The most immediate need is $600,000 for repairs to the roof and dome, which will commence in early 1998. Already one of the six metal eagles adorning the dome has been removed and stored after its base caved in, allowing water to seep in and begin rusting the sheet metal dome supporting four rows of stained-glass windows. When the eagle landed, it turned out to have one wing repaired with duct tape and thin aluminum plating - the type used to print newspapers!
The improper attachment of the Christmas lighting as well as the heavy foot traffic needed to put it up around the deteriorating dome - along with the roof's advanced age - have made immediate repair critical.
Other necessary exterior repairs - again traced to aging and improper care in the past - must soon be made. A quarter-century ago the yellow brick was sandblasted, removing its glazed surface and turning the bricks into wicks. Rotting down spouts allowed the brick and stone to mildew and stain the masonry. Inside, plaster walls flake and peel from the moisture drawn in by the now-porous bricks.
Remodeling over the 96 years the building has been in use has resulted in chopping up once-majestic rooms, including the district courtroom which once was two stories high with a balcony surrounding much of it. Present plans are to restore most of the interior as Gordon and working architect C.G. Lancaster originally intended it to appear.
One thing that will not change is the expansion of the east and west wings, executed most dramatically by Lancaster in the 1920s. When the County Commission determined it needed more space, Lancaster supervised the successful moving of the brick and granite facades on the east and west wings with a pair of worm gears in the basement and at the roof level. Once the exterior porticos had been expanded far enough, the wings were filled in so seamlessly that the addition is almost impossible to spot.
It will take a major expenditure to provide handicap access and to create, for the first time, sufficient public restrooms in the building.
In addition to the ever-expanding research library, proper display and storage of the more than 50,000 artifacts must be found. Fragile textiles and photographs, including more than 8,000 negatives from the archives of the Marshall News Messenger must be properly preserved, as well as more sturdy items including boxer George Foreman's Olympic ring and first gold heavyweight championship belt, Bill Moyers' Emmy, awarded for the PBS show "Marshall Texas/Marshall Texas," football uniforms belonging to Dallas Cowboy Robert Newhouse and New York Giant Y.A. Tittle. A ball gown worn by to First Lady Lady Bird Johnson along with one of LBJ's tuxedos will have a special place in the exhibits.
A traveling exhibit on Caddo Lake opened November 24, 1997, and will be in place until May 1. In addition, more than a dozen regularly scheduled Sunday afternoon lectures on Caddo Lake beginning after January 1.have been announced. Look for exact dates soon!
Raising $5.1 million requires reaching out across the state and nation, which is what Conover Hunt and Franklin Jones are doing. Contributions to the Capital Courthouse Campaign may be mailed to Harrison County Historic Courthouse, Peter Whetstone Square, Marshall, Texas 75670
TOURING MARSHALL'S HISTORIC LALE TRAIL
The courthouse square may have been covered in its Wonderland of Lights garb for only 11 years, but it was always a center of activities in Marshall, from market days at the turn-of-the-century to War Bond rallies in 1942 It is also the beginning of a walking tour of Marshall called "The Lale Trail," named for one of its prominent journalists and historians, Max Lale.
Marshall was founded in 1841 on land donated by Peter Whetstone. According to legend, Whetstone bribed the county commissioners with a jug of whiskey he had hidden in a hollow tree on the square.
Businesses soon lined the square and Austin Street to the north. This photograph was taken before the turn of the century. The streets are now paved, and Logan and Whaley Hardware, in the center of the photograph, the bank on the far left, and the Hub Shoe Store, distinguished by the large log-wagon hub in the right corner of the photograph, still operate.
Marshall made its fortune after the Texas and Pacific Railroad arrived in 1871. Only the 1912 passenger depot, now undergoing restoration, remains to remind visitors of the vast shops that once provided jobs for one in every four townspeople.
Though most of its many fine homes date from the railroad's heyday, The Lancaster-Harris House on Travis Street was built before the Civil War. It was the family home of architect C.G. Lancaster.
The Starr Family Historic Park, home of the Republic of Texas James Harper Starr family is open to the public and a popular site for weddings and parties. It belongs to the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department.
The Solomon House, a bed and breakfast at the corner of Grove and Rusk, has been remodeled three times since it was built in 1894 by a wealthy lumberman. This version dates to 1920s.
The Friend Home on West Houston Street was built by Civil War veteran W.W. Heartsell for his daughter. It is now a restaurant and gift shop.
Some Marshallites call the homes along West Rusk and West Burleson streets "Painted Ladies," because they have been restored to the colors of the 1900's when most were built. All are privately owned, but occasionally opened during Marshall's Wonderland of Lights Festival or during Stagecoach Days, the third weekend in May.
*The Ginocchio Historic District on North Washington, dominated by the 1912 Texas and Pacific Depot, the Allen House, the old Ginocchio Hotel, the Ginocchio-Pedison House and Three Oaks, a bed and breakfast once catered to the railroad passenger traffic. In the old Coca Cola plant is Yester Years Pottery, one of Marshall's dozen potteries. Others with retail outlets include Marshall Pottery on FM 31 and American Pottery Village on U.S. 59 at East Houston. Grubb Pottery and the Pottery Tent also have outlets outside the city on U.S. 59 North toward Jefferson.
*Heart's Hill, also a bed and breakfast, has a unique semi-circular bay. The windows as well as the elaborate parquet floor in the living room follow the graceful curve. The carriage house, believed to be older than the house itself, is also available as a bed and breakfast.
The Weisman-Hirsch Home, designed by architect C.G. Lancaster, was considered "the finest house in town" when it was built for merchant Joe Weisman, who established one of Texas' first department stores.
*Among the historic churches in Marshall are First Methodist, constructed in 1861, The Presbyterian Church, built in xxx and Trinity Episcopal, built in xxx. First Methodist and the Presbyterian Church open their sanctuaries during Wonderland of lights.
*A survey of Marshall, now being completed, has found more than 500 homes and other structures of historical importance. Many of them have Registered Texas Historic Landmark designations and a dozen of them are on the National Register of Historic Places.
In Harrison County outside Marshall are a number of sites worth more than one visit. They include Caddo Lake, Texas' only naturally formed lake, Stagecoach Road, four miles of beautiful sunken roadway located east off U.S. 59 at the end of Harris Lake Road, and T.C Lindsey's General Store in Jonesville. T.C. Lindsey and Company, celebrating its 150th birthday in 1997, is the location of half a dozen movies. It looks about the way it did in the days of mule-drawn wagons bringing cotton to the nearby gin - the last one in East Texas.
MARSHALL'S HISTORY
The city was founded in 1841 when Peter Whetstone offered Harrison County Commissioners land for a courthouse, a church and a school if they would only locate on his land in the middle of the county. Whetstone's offer was accepted, and by 1842 Marshall was the county seat. Civic leader Isaac Van Zandt named the town in honor of United States Supreme Court Justice John Marshall.
Marshall, the first town in Texas with a telegraph, providing a connection with New Orleans, thereby had one of the most important newspapers in antibellum Texas, The Texas Republican , published by fire-eating Robert Lowery. By 1860 it was one of the wealthiest, largest towns in Texas, home of the first - Edward Clark - and last - Pendleton Murrah - Confederate governors of the state.
Marshall was headquarters for much of the Trans Mississippi Department of the Confederate States of America, as well as the Confederate Capital of Missouri, adding a seventh flag to the six others that flew over the Lone Star State. Jay Gould brought the Texas and Pacific Railroad to Marshall in 1871 - lured by the promise of land and $300,000 from the coffers of the county. For a time, the T.&P. shops provided one out of every four jobs in town. Because Marshall also became a cotton-shipping center for East Texas, even more jobs were dependent on the rails. It was during the railroad era that many of the large homes and successful mercantile business were established.
The town was and remains an educational center, beginning with Wiley College in 1873, Bishop College in 1881- which later moved to Dallas, the College of Marshall (now East Texas Baptist University) in 1914, and Texas State Technical College in 1993.
As the cotton and railroad jobs disappeared, they were replaced by jobs in small manufacturing - particularly in the pottery industry. One pottery in 1848 has expanded to a dozen, including the Untied States' largest manufacturer of red clay pots. They are a major attraction for the growing tourist industry.
There are fifteen homes, churches, and commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places, and nearly 100 historic markers in the city and county.
Possible links:
East Texas Baptist University
Wiley College
Texas State Technical College
City of Marshall
Marshall Chamber of Commerce
Marshall Pottery