The Molloy Hotel

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Molloy Hotel in Navarro County. Now settle in, because this one goes back a good while. Three years after the rail line was laid through Corsicana, a lawyer by the name of Henry Molloy decided the town needed a proper place to put people up.

That was 1874. Molloy, born in 1829, had a one-story hotel built to accommodate businessmen and other travelers rolling into town on that shiny new railroad. One story was enough to start.

But Henry Molloy was not a man to leave well enough alone. Come 1881, he added a second story, and just like that, the place had some real presence on the street. Over the years, the Molloy Hotel grew into something more than a place to sleep off a long ride.

It became a center of business and social activity, the kind of place where deals got made and conversations ran long. And the building passed through the hands of a number of the town's leading citizens. One of them was George T.

Jester, father of former Texas Governor Beauford H. Jester. That name carries some weight in Texas history, and there it is, connected to a hotel in Corsicana.

Henry Molloy himself lived until 1913, long enough to see what that one-story building had become. The hotel kept its doors open for over a century before finally closing in 1975. It still stands today, and what it stands as, according to the marker, is a reminder of Corsicana's early days as a railroad town.

One building, one lawyer, one rail line, and a whole lot of history walking through the door.

What the marker says

In 1874, three years after the rail line was laid through Corsicana, lawyer Henry Molloy (1829-1913) had a one-story hotel built to accommodate businessmen and other travelers. Molloy added the second story in 1881. Over the years, the building came to be a center of business and social activity and has been owned by a number of the town's leading citizens, including George T. Jester, father of former Texas Governor Beauford H. Jester. The hotel, which closed in 1975, stands as a reminder of Corsicana's early days as a railroad town.