Nahor Biggs Yard

Duane's take

The way the official marker tells it, here's the story of Nahor Biggs Yard. In 1838, a man from New Jersey stepped off a boat and into a brand new town. The town was Galveston, and the man was Nahor Biggs Yard.

Now Galveston was young enough that you could practically smell the sawdust, and Yard wasted no time. He built one of the very first residences the city ever had. One of the first.

Think about that the next time you drive past a neighborhood that's been standing longer than your grandmother can remember. Somebody had to go first. Yard did well in business, sure enough, but here's the thing the marker wants you to know: business was not his legacy.

His legacy was everything else. He served as city alderman. County commissioner.

A leader in both his church and the Masonic order. A school board member. And if that weren't enough, he rose to the rank of colonel in the first regiment of Texas troops.

Colonel. First regiment. In a state that takes its military history seriously, that title carries weight.

Then there's the Howard Association, a local philanthropic organization, and Yard served as its president. A man building community from the ground up, in every direction he could reach. New Jersey sent him, and Galveston kept him, and the record shows he gave that city just about everything he had.

What the marker says

In 1838 New Jersey native Nahor Biggs Yard arrived in the new town of Galveston and built one of the city's first residences. Yard enjoyed success in business but is best remembered for his distinguished civic and military career. He served as city alderman, county commissioner, church and Masonic leader, colonel in the first regiment of Texas troops, school board member, and president of the Howard Association, a local philanthropic organization. Recorded - 1993