DUANE
Duane's take
Here's what the official marker tells us about the Captain N. A. Birge House — and it's quite a story to tell.
Now, you might look at that grand house standing there in Sherman and think it was always meant to be. But there's a lot of road behind that front porch, starting clear up in Connecticut. Noble Allan Birge was born in 1832, a New England man through and through — and yet somehow Texas had his name on it.
He came to Texas before the Civil War, settled in Jefferson with his wife and children, and wasted absolutely no time making himself known. By 1860, the people of Marion County had elected him their very first sheriff. First one ever.
That's the kind of reputation a man builds fast, or not at all. Then the war came. Birge served as a captain in the Confederate army, and when it was over, he came back to Jefferson and got back to business — literally.
He owned a livery stable, held numerous city lots, and kept his hand in a railroad company and a navigation company. Leading businessman, active civic leader — the marker doesn't waste words, and neither will I. But in 1874, the Birge family packed up and moved to Grayson County, settling first on a farm north of Sherman.
And before long, N. A. Birge was doing what N.
A. Birge apparently did everywhere he landed — becoming a prominent businessman and industrialist, running a large cotton brokerage firm and other cotton-related businesses. The man had a gift for roots, and he planted them deep.
Now, in 1877, a structure went up on a particular lot in Sherman. We don't know everything about that building, but we know what happened to it — because in rolled the great Sherman tornado, and it destroyed that 1877 structure right down to the memory of it. So in 1896, they built Birge a new home on that same site.
And whoever drew up those plans was not thinking small. The house shows both Queen Anne and classical revival style influences, and the classical revival touches are — the marker's word, not mine — flamboyant. We're talking gables with garlands, giant order Roman Ionic columns, pedimented windows with segmental arches, and smaller columns that are half-Doric and half-turned.
That house was meant to be seen. Noble Allan Birge died in 1902, but the family held onto that home for a long, long time after him. It stayed in Birge hands all the way until 1969 — sixty-seven years after the man himself was gone, his family still living under those Roman Ionic columns.
A Connecticut boy who became Marion County's first sheriff, a Confederate captain who became a cotton magnate, a man who watched a tornado take his house and simply built a grander one. Noble Allan Birge came a long way from New England — and Sherman, Texas is richer for it.
What the marker says
Connecticut native Noble Allan Birge (1832-1902) came to Texas prior to the Civil War. Settling in Jefferson with his wife and children, he was the first elected sheriff of Marion County in 1860. Following his service as a captain in the Confederate army, Birge became a leading businessman in Jefferson. The owner of a livery stable and numerous city lots, he was an active civic leader involved in such endeavors as a railroad company and a navigation company. The Birge family moved to Grayson County in 1874, settling first on a farm north of Sherman. N. A. Birge soon became a prominent local businessman and industrialist, operating a large cotton brokerage firm and other cotton related businesses. This home was built for Birge in 1896, shortly after the great Sherman tornado destroyed an 1877 structure on the same site. Exhibiting both Queen Anne and classical revival style influences, the house features flamboyant classical revival touches in its gables with garlands, giant order Roman Ionic columns, pedimented (segmental arch) windows, and smaller columns that are half-Doric and half-turned. The home remained in the Birge family until 1969. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1988