DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker says about the Ginocchio Hotel and Restaurant in Marshall, Harrison County, Texas. Now, some buildings just sit there. And then there are buildings that seem to collect history the way a front porch collects weather.
The Ginocchio Hotel and Restaurant in Marshall is very much the second kind. It starts with a man. Charles Ginocchio, Italian-born, arrived in Marshall in 1871.
He had an eye for real estate, and he positioned himself well — picking up several properties near the Texas and Pacific Railroad depot. That's prime territory in a railroad town, and Charles knew it. But here's where it gets interesting.
One of those properties near the depot became the site of a shooting in 1879 — and not just any shooting. The kind that gets remembered. A fellow named Maurice Barrymore was wounded.
His fellow actor, a man named Ben Porter, did not survive. That happened on ground that Charles Ginocchio owned. Whatever you make of that, it is part of what the land carries.
Now, Charles kept building his life in Marshall. And somewhere between 1893 and 1896, he commissioned something worth commissioning — a three-story brick building. The foundation is ironstone.
The first floor held stores, a café, a lobby, a ballroom, and a dining room. Up above, forty hotel rooms. Forty.
And inside, if you looked closely, you'd find hand-carved curly pine detailing — rare stuff, the kind of work that takes patience and skill and somebody who believed the building deserved it. For decades that building stood. But by the late 1960s, it was staring down demolition.
That's where the Camargo Corporation and the Max C. Gaines family stepped in. They restored it.
They pulled it back from the edge. So here's the thing about the Ginocchio Hotel. It's seen a railroad boom, a notorious shooting, forty rooms worth of travelers passing through, and a last-minute rescue from the wrecking ball.
Italian-born Charles Ginocchio showed up in Marshall in 1871 with plans. He couldn't have known everything those walls would witness. But the walls are still standing.
That's something.
What the marker says
Italian-born Charles Ginocchio arrived in Marshall in 1871. He owned several properties near the T&P Railroad depot, including the site of a notorious 1879 shooting that left Maurice Barrymore wounded and fellow actor Ben Porter dead. In 1893-96 Ginocchio commissioned this three-story brick building with first-floor stores, café, lobby, ballroom and dining room, and forty hotel rooms on the upper floors. The foundation is of ironstone, and the interior includes rare hand-carved curly pine detailing. In the late 1960s, the Camargo Corporation and the Max C. Gaines family restored the building and saved it from demolition. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1971