DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the Texas Historical Commission put down on the marker for Casino Hall in Fayette County. Now, the name alone is enough to make a person raise an eyebrow — Casino Hall, right there in La Grange — and I'll tell you, that eyebrow has been raised by many a passerby over the years. But hold on, because this story is not what you think it is.
Not even close. The Casino Association of La Grange commissioned this building in 1880, and they were very deliberate about what they called it: a house for social and public use and benefit generally. Not a place of gambling.
Let that be said plainly, and let it be said early. Now that we've cleared the air, let's talk about what they actually built. They brought in James Wahrenberger, an architect out of Austin, to design the thing.
Then they handed the construction over to a builder named John T. Campbell, who put up ten thousand square feet of yellow ochre brick for twelve thousand dollars. Twelve thousand dollars.
For a building that has outlasted just about everything else in the conversation. Wahrenberger dressed it up in the Italianate style — overhanging eaves, a stepped brickwork cornice with paired brackets, iron hood moldings over the windows and doors, round arches on the first floor and at the center of the front façade. The second floor windows got segmental arches.
Decorative roundels on the first floor windows of the outer bays. Brick pilasters with stepped tops marking the edges. A stringcourse stretching across between the stories.
Broken pediments on each gabled end. And out front, a single-story portico with two square columns on each side and a balustrade running along the top. Now, I want you to picture this building standing in La Grange — all that yellow ochre brick catching the Texas light — because what happened inside those walls deserves a proper setting.
The interior was made for gathering. Music, theatrical exhibitions, social events. People coming together under one roof.
But there was more going on than parties and performances. Casino Hall also served as a free school and a teaching institute. And one of the students who walked out of that building went on to make history.
Annie W. Blanton, a graduate of 1886, became the first woman elected to statewide office in Texas — superintendent of public instruction — in 1918. Think about that.
She sat in that building as a student, and decades later she stood at the top of public education for the entire state. The building wasn't done giving either. It went on to serve as city hall.
As headquarters for the volunteer fire service. Later, as an activity center for senior citizens. It wore those roles one after another, like a person who just keeps showing up and finding a way to be useful.
Then it stood vacant for a time — as buildings sometimes do when the world gets busy and forgets what it has. But it came back. Renovated.
Returned to what its founders always intended: what the marker calls gemütlichkeit. A German word that loosely translates as a locale of good mood, belonging, and social acceptance. The Casino Association of La Grange may not have known in 1880 just how much that word would end up defining what they'd built.
But ten thousand square feet of yellow ochre brick and a hundred and thirty-seven years later, the Texas Historical Commission put a marker on it in 2017 — and that word is exactly the one they chose to leave you with. Good mood. Belonging.
Social acceptance. Not a bad legacy for a building that never had a card table in the place.
What the marker says
Commissioned by the Casino Association of La Grange, construction of the Casino Hall began in 1880. Designed by James Wahrenberger of Austin, the 10,000-square-foot structure was built by John T. Campbell for $12,000. It served the community as a “house for social and public use and benefit generally,” not as a place of gambling. The yellow ochre brick building boasts Italianate decorative elements, such as overhanging eaves and a stepped brickwork cornice with paired brackets. The windows and doors have iron hood moldings and round arches on the first floor and the center of the front façade. The second floor windows have segmental arches. Decorative roundels adorn the first floor windows on the outer bays. Brick pilasters with stepped tops outline the edges of the building and bays, and a stringcourse spans the first and second stories. The gabled roof has broken pediments on each end. A single-story portico at the main entrance has two square columns on each side and a balustrade along the top. The interior design provided a place for social gatherings, and music and theatrical exhibitions. The casino also served as a free school and teaching institute. Annie W. Blanton, graduate of 1886, became the first woman elected to statewide office as superintendent of public instruction in 1918. The casino served as city hall, headquarters of the volunteer fire service, and later the activity center for senior citizens. It stood vacant before being renovated and reverting to a place of “gemütlichkeit,” which loosely translates as “a locale of good mood, belonging, and social acceptance.” Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2017