Abraham Levi House

Duane's take

The way I tell it, this comes straight from the official marker for the Abraham Levi House in Victoria County, and brother, this one's got some history packed into its walls. Now before we even get to the war, understand what kind of house we're talking about. Built before the Civil War, and whoever put it up was not thinking small.

Eight fireplaces. Ten rooms. Many porches.

That is a house that has opinions about itself. On a cool evening you could have a fire going in eight different rooms, and you'd still probably find another porch to stand on. The man who owned it from 1861 to 1881 was Abraham Levi, a banker and merchant, and by all accounts a man of some standing and some generosity.

The marker calls him a donor of a charitable fund, which tells you something about the kind of fellow he was. He understood that a town is only as good as the people in it, and he put his money where that belief was. But here is where the story turns, and it turns hard.

In 1865, the U.S. Army of Occupation moved in and took the place over. That house with the eight fireplaces and the ten rooms and all those porches became the Reconstruction headquarters for the region.

And in the rear of the property, they put a prison. Sit with that a moment. The same porches, the same fireplaces, the same walls.

Different purpose entirely. Abraham Levi held on. Held on through 1865, through Reconstruction, through whatever it means to have your home turned into a headquarters and your back lot turned into a detention facility, and he kept that house until 1881.

Eight fireplaces. Some of them probably never felt warm the same way again.

What the marker says

Built before Civil War. Had 8 fireplaces, 10 rooms, many porches. Owned 1861-1881 by banker-merchant Abraham Levi, donor charitable fund. In 1865, taken over by U.S. Army of Occupation; used as Reconstruction headquarters, with prison in rear. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1965