DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna do it justice. Alright, picture Galveston in 1882 — a city that knew it was something, a city that moved cotton and coffee and people across the whole wide world. Right in the middle of all that commerce stood a building going up, stone by stone, in the north Italian renaissance revival mode.
Architect Eugene T. Heiner drew the plans. Contractor Robert Palisser put it all together, and when the dust settled, Galveston had itself a structure worthy of the men who commissioned it.
Those men were Julius Kauffman, born 1856, and Julius Runge, born 1851 — second generation owners of a commission firm that had been operating since 1842. Two Julius's running one formidable operation. Kauffman-Runge wasn't just doing business, they were doing world-class business.
The marker calls them the world's foremost cotton exporters at the time, and as if that wasn't enough, they were the initiators of coffee imports from Brazil. They also brought significant numbers of settlers to Texas. The ground floor of that building held their commodities.
The upper floors held their offices. And many highly respected Galveston firms set up their business quarters right there alongside them. That building was humming.
Then 1900 happened. The famous storm that Galveston still carries like a scar. Among other things, it took the ornate cornice right off that building, and for years — decades — it stayed missing, like a sentence without its last word.
Now, enter Maco Stewart, born 1871. He bought the property in 1905 and he wasn't a man who left things half-done. He redesigned the interior, created a gallery effect, put an arched skylight up on the top floor.
The marker calls him foresighted and dynamic, and the evidence backs that up — in 1908, Maco Stewart founded Stewart Title Guaranty Company. By 1978, it was the largest title firm in Texas, with offices spread across the United States. And through all of that expansion, through every chapter of that growth, Stewart Title kept offices in this very building.
The place where the whole thing began. Eventually, Stewart Title Company restored the structure, and they replaced that ornate cornice — the one the 1900 storm had carried off. The sentence, finally, got its last word back.
What the marker says
Julius Kauffman (1856-1935) and Julius Runge (1851-1906), second generation owners of a commission firm established in 1842, had architect Eugene T. Heiner design this renaissance revival building in the north Italian mode. Contractor Robert Palisser completed the structure in 1882. Then known as the world's foremost cotton exporters and the initiators of coffee imports from Brazil, Kauffman-Runge also brought significant numbers of settlers to Texas. They housed commodities on the building's ground floor, and had offices above. Many highly-respected Galveston firms had business quarters here. In 1905 the property was bought by Maco Stewart (1871-1938), who redesigned the interior to create a gallery effect with an arched skylight on the top floor. A foresighted, dynamic lawyer, Maco Stewart in 1908 founded Stewart Title Guaranty Company, now (1978) the largest title firm in Texas. Throughout expansion across the United States, it continuously had offices in this structure of its origin. Stewart Title Company has restored the building, replacing the ornate cornice which had been missing since the famous 1900 Galveston storm.