Weisman-Hirsch House

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. We're talking about the Weisman-Hirsch House, out in Harrison County, and this story starts, as the best ones often do, with a father, a daughter, and a piece of land. Before department store owner Joe Weisman married Lena Young in 1881, her father deeded this very property to Weisman.

Think about that. The deed came before the wedding. Lena's father made sure that ground was spoken for.

Now, the first home that stood on that property, it burned. The marker doesn't linger on that, and neither will I, except to say that what rose in its place was something worth remembering. In 1901, a new structure went up, and the man who designed it was C.

G. Lancaster, the same architect who gave East Texas the Ginocchio Hotel. Lancaster knew what he was doing.

Joe Weisman, born in 1848 and gone by 1918, built something that outlasted him. The house passed to the next generation, to the Weismans' daughter Valerie and her husband Joe Nathan Hirsch, born in 1883 and living all the way to 1966. And under their roof, the place became something more than a family home.

The Weisman-Hirsch residence became a social center for Jewish citizens of East Texas. Community gathered here. Generations passed through.

One father's deed, one architect's design, one family's long story, and a house still standing to tell it.

What the marker says

Before department store owner Joe Weisman (1848-1918) married Lena Young in 1881, her father deeded this property to Weisman. The first home burned and this structure was built in 1901. The architect was C. G. Lancaster who also designed the Ginocchio Hotel. Later the Weismans' daughter Valerie and her husband Joe Nathan Hirsch (1883-1966) occupied the house. the Weisman-Hirsch residence was a social center for Jewish citizens of East Texas. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1979