Henry G. Damon

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Henry G. Damon.

Born in Florida in 1846, and right from the start, life had some big plans and some hard detours waiting for him. He served in the Confederate army during the Civil War, and somewhere along the way, he was taken prisoner. That is not a small thing.

That is the kind of experience that marks a man, and it marked Henry Damon. But the story doesn't stop there. It picks back up in Corsicana, Texas, in 1873, when Damon rolled into town and decided this was where he was going to build something.

He became a lawyer first, which tells you something about how his mind worked. He wasn't just looking for a livelihood. He was looking for leverage, for a way to shape things.

And shape things he did. He teamed up with a businessman named W. R.

Bright, and together they established the Texas Loan Agency. Now that name sounds modest enough, but don't let it fool you. That agency was an early real estate mortgage company, and it became a genuine leader in the area's industrial development.

From 1890 until 1900, its headquarters stood right here in this very building. Ten years of deals, of documents, of the kind of quiet financial work that builds towns from the ground up. Damon wasn't just sitting behind a desk counting his fees, either.

He was an early Chamber of Commerce member, and he was an active prohibitionist, which in Texas at that time meant you had opinions and you were not shy about sharing them. Henry G. Damon died in 1918, and he was buried in Oakwood Cemetery.

A man born in Florida, forged in a war, and laid to rest in Corsicana. The building is still here. That part of the story, at least, held.

What the marker says

(1846-1918) Born in Florida, Henry Damon served in the Confederate army and was taken prisoner during the Civil War. After moving to Corsicana in 1873, Damon became a lawyer and established the Texas Loan Agency with his partner, businessman W. R. Bright. Headquartered in this building from 1890 until 1900, the agency was an early real estate mortgage company that became a leader in the area's industrial development. Damon was also an early Chamber of Commerce member and an active prohibitionist. He was buried in Oakwood Cemetery.