DUANE
Duane's take
The way the marker at Heritage Park tells it, here's the story of the Jalufka-Govatos House — and it's a good one. James Jalufka was born in 1879 in Lavaca County, the son of Moravian immigrants who'd come over from Czech country to try their luck in Texas. That made James a first-generation Texan — and he was going to make something of that fact.
By the time he was done, he'd fought in the Spanish-American War, served again as a soldier in World War I, grown cotton across south Texas, and owned his own cotton gin. That is a resume, friends. Around 1905, James and his wife Helen J. had a house built at 1408 North Mesquite Street, right in the heart of the neighborhood folks called Old Irishtown.
Could be the most Texas sentence ever spoken — a Czech-American cotton man building his home in a place called Old Irishtown. They lived there together until 1919, then moved on, renting the place out while the years rolled by. Now here's where the house picks up its second life.
In 1944, Pete and Minnie Lee Govatos came through the door. The Govatos family had been a presence in Corpus Christi's Greek community since the 1920s, and Pete and Minnie Lee themselves had been Corpus Christi residents since 1940. They ran a local restaurant — the kind of people who fed a city and called it a day's work — and they made that house on Mesquite Street their home.
Minnie Lee lived there until her death in 1960. After the Govatos family sold it, the house changed hands several times. And with each change, it slipped a little further.
Disrepair has a way of creeping quiet and patient into a place that's been handed off too many times. By the time the city of Corpus Christi acquired it in 1987, the old house had seen better decades. But here's the turn: rather than let it go, the city moved it — moved the whole house — to Heritage Park.
Had it renovated on the new site. A home that had sheltered a war veteran, a cotton grower, a Greek family running a restaurant, and Lord knows who in between... it got a second chance. James Jalufka lived to be ninety years old — 1879 to 1969.
He outlasted two wars, watched the cotton trade rise and fall, and the house he built about 1905 is still standing. Sometimes the things people build hold on longer than anyone expects.
What the marker says
A first generation Texan, James Jalufka (1879-1969) was born in Lavaca County, the son of Moravian (Czech) immigrants. A veteran of the Spanish-American War, he also served as a soldier in World War I. He was a prominent south Texas cotton grower and owned a local cotton gin. Jalufka and his wife, Helen J., had this home built about 1905. Originally located at 1408 North Mesquite Street, it was part of the neighborhood known as "Old Irishtown". They continued to live in the house until 1919, after which time it was used as rental property. Pete and Minnie Lee Govatos, members of a family active in the city's Greek community since the 1920's, purchased the home from the Jalufkas in 1944. Residents of Corpus Christi since 1940, they operated a local restaurant and lived in the house until Minnie Lee's death in 1960. The house changed ownership several times after the Govatos family sold it, and eventually it fell into disrepair. Acquired by the city in 1987, it was moved to Heritage Park and renovated on its new site. (1990)