DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about James S. and Alfred T. Lucas — and friends, this one's built to last, just like the men themselves. Now, you want to talk about leaving your mark on a city?
I mean literally leaving your mark — in brick, in mortar, in buildings that outlast the men who raised them? Then pull up a chair, because the Lucas family has something to say about that. James Sherwood Lucas was born in Nottingham, England, in 1836, the son of a registered brick layer named Thomas Lucas and his wife Ann.
So you could say bricklaying was in the blood before James ever laid a single course. At thirty-four years old, James packed up his wife Emily and their four children, boarded the British steamship Alice out of Liverpool, and made for New Orleans. From there, the family found their way to Houston, settling in by 1873.
A man with a trowel, a family, and a city hungry to grow — the timing, you might say, was just about perfect. From 1870 all the way until his death in 1888, James Lucas built a lasting testament to his talents across Houston. And what a testament it was.
The 1883 Preston Street Bridge. The 1884 to 1885 Houston Cotton Exchange Building. These weren't ordinary jobs.
These were the kinds of structures that made people stop and look up. Now, here's where the story gets that second layer — the one that makes it something more than the tale of one man. By the age of sixteen, James Lucas' son Alfred T.
Lucas was already his father's apprentice. Born in 1863, Alfred was learning the trade from the inside out, hand by hand, brick by brick, watching his father shape a city. Then in 1888, James Lucas died, and the weight of the family contracting company passed to Alfred's shoulders.
Alfred didn't flinch. He picked up where his father left off — and then some. He worked alongside Eugene T.
Heiner on the 1896 Harris County Jail and Criminal Court Building and the 1899 Lavaca County Courthouse. Teaming up with John Stadtler, Alfred built ten professional buildings and three private homes. Run through that list slowly, because it's something: the 1891 Houston Light Guard Armory, the Henke and Company Store, Magnolia and American Breweries, and the Houston Water Works Pump House.
He helped build the 1895 City Auditorium. Then came the 1903 Houston City Hall and Market Place. And when the city needed its streets paved, Alfred's company — Lucas Brick Works — did a good share of that too, mostly from bricks produced at their own brick yard, sitting right on Buffalo Bayou near Shepherd and San Felipe.
The man wasn't just building on Houston; he was building Houston, from the ground up, one brick at a time. Alfred T. Lucas lived until 1922, long enough to see what two generations of Lucas hands had wrought upon that city.
Two men — a father born in Nottingham and a son who grew up in Houston — left behind courthouses, armories, auditoriums, bridges, and miles of paved streets. The marker calls it a legacy of craftsmanship. I'd call it something a little harder to move than most legacies.
After all — it's brick.
What the marker says
James Sherwood Lucas (1836-1888) and his son Alfred T. Lucas (1863-1922) immigrated to the United States and became influential brick masons and contractors who helped develop the city of Houston. James Lucas was born in Nottingham, England, to registered brick layer Thomas Lucas and Ann Lucas. At age 34, James, his wife Emily and their four children traveled aboard the British steamship Alice from Liverpool to New Orleans. By 1873, the family settled in Houston. From 1870 until his death in 1888, James Lucas built a lasting testament to his talents as seen at the 1884-85 Houston cotton exchange building and the 1883 Preston Street Bridge. By the age of sixteen, Alfred T. Lucas, James Lucas’ son, was an apprentice to his father. After his father’s death, Alfred continued the family contracting company. Lucas worked with Eugene T. Heiner on the 1896 Harris County Jail and Criminal Court Building and the 1899 Lavaca County Courthouse. Along with John Stadtler, Lucas built ten professional buildings and three private homes, including 1891 Houston Light Guard Armory, Henke and Company Store, Magnolia and American Breweries and the Houston Water Works Pump House. Lucas also helped build the 1895 City Auditorium and the 1903 Houston City Hall and Market Place. His company, Lucas Brick Works, paved many of Houston’s streets, mostly from bricks produced at their brick yard on Buffalo Bayou near Shepherd and San Felipe. James and Alfred T. Lucas, two generations of brick masons, left a legacy of craftsmanship that aided in the development and expansion of Houston.