DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say, and friend, this one deserves every word it gets. Now, some stories start with a grand institution, a famous city, a name everybody already knows. This one starts on a farm in Falls County, Texas — and that's exactly where it ought to start.
A boy named Benjamin Jesse Covington was born there, around 1871, and somewhere between the plowing and the planting, he started doing something that caught folks' attention. He was performing surgery. On farm animals.
Out there in Falls County, before he ever set foot in a medical school, the skills were already showing themselves. He didn't let them go to waste. He attended Hearne Academy, then made his way to Meharry Medical College to become a surgeon.
In 1900 he graduated, and he set up his medical practice in Wharton, Texas. Two years later, in 1902, he married Jennie Belle Murphy, a native of Gonzales. And in 1903, the two of them moved to Houston.
Houston is where they planted their roots so deep the city could feel it. Dr. Covington practiced medicine in Houston for fifty-eight years.
Fifty-eight. That's not a career — that's a covenant with a community. By 1920 he was president of the Lone Star Medical Association, and in 1925 he co-founded the Houston Negro Hospital.
The man who once worked on farm animals in Falls County was now building institutions. And Jennie Belle Murphy Covington — born 1881 — was right there building alongside him. She co-founded the Blue Triangle Branch of the Y.W.C.A.
She served as chair of the Texas State Commission on Race Relations. The Covingtons were active members of Antioch Baptist Church. Together, they represented what the marker calls — and I'm quoting because you don't improve on this — a level of achievement, dignity, and civic service matched by few African Americans in Houston during the first half of the twentieth century.
Now here's where the story takes a particular turn. In 1911, the Covingtons built a stately home right here. And in a Houston where local hotels were segregated — where a man could be the most celebrated artist or the most respected leader in the country and still be turned away at the door — the Covington house became something unofficial but absolutely essential.
It became Houston's guest quarters for prominent African American visitors. Booker T. Washington came through those doors.
So did Marian Anderson, one of the eminent artists the marker names. So did Roland Hayes, another. The house held them.
The Covingtons welcomed them. Benjamin Jesse Covington lived until 1961. Jennie Belle Murphy Covington lived until 1966.
The home they built together, the one that had sheltered so many, was razed in 1978. But here's the thing about a life well-built — you can take down the walls and the story still stands.
What the marker says
Dr. Benjamin Jesse Covington (c. 1871-1961), his wife Jennie Belle Murphy (1881-1966), and the stately home they built here in 1911 represented a level of achievement, dignity, and civic service matched by few African Americans in Houston during the first half of the 20th century. Born and reared on a farm in Falls County, Texas, Dr. Covington exhibited surgical skills on farm animals at an early age. He later attended Hearne Academy and Meharry Medical College to become a surgeon. After graduating in 1900 he began his medical practice in Wharton, Texas. He married Gonzales native Jennie Belle Murphy in 1902, and in 1903 they moved to Houston where Dr. Covington practiced medicine for 58 years. Dr. Covington, president of the Lone Star Medical Association in 1920, co-founded the Houston Negro Hospital in 1925. Mrs. Covington co-founded the Blue Triangle Branch, Y. W. C. A., and served as chair of the Texas State Commission on Race Relations. The Covingtons were active members of Antioch Baptist Church. During a period when local hotels were segregated, the Covingtons' home (razed in 1978) served as Houston's unofficial guest quarters for many prominent African American visitors including Booker T. Washington and eminent artists Marian Anderson and Roland Hayes. (1994)