Talk:Ginocchio Historic District

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Information from the Texas Historical Commission http://atlas.thc.state.tx.us/common/viewform.asp?atlas_num=2074002076&site_name=Ginocchio%20Historic%20District&class=2001

The Ginocchio Historic District is located adjacent to the Texas and Pacific Railroad and Marshall depot. The boundaries include willow Street on the north, N. Alamo Blvd. across the Texas and Pacific property to Lake Street on the east, Grand Ave. on the south and N. Franklin on the west. The district includes the Ginocchio Hotel, C.A. Ginocchio's private residence, several Victorian homes in the immediate vicinity, the railroad and freight station, the railroad shops, and the old Marshall cemetery.

The Ginocchio Hotel is a three-story, ell-shaped brick structure which incorporates an earlier one-story brick building within the angle of the elf. C.G. Lancaster, who designed the hotel for the railroad tycoon C.A. Ginocchio in 1896, also built the old county courthouse, which now houses the Harrison County Historical Museum.

Built to sustain the daily vibrations of trains only 60 feet away, the hotel is perhaps the sturdiest structure in Marshall. The foundation is of hand sawed native iron stone set 10 feet into the ground and topped with three floors of twenty-inch thick brick walls. The main or north facade of the hotel has a series of six double doors with transoms on the first floor, supported by cast iron columns. Segmental arched 2-over-2 light windows on the second floor are divided into bays by brick pilasters, but joined horizontally by a belt course. There is a large central gable flanked by corner towers with pyramidal roofs and finials. The longer side of the building facing N. Washington Street is divided into three bays by brick pilasters. On the first floor the northeast bay has three segmental arched windows, while the remainder of the first level contains alternating double doors and large display windows with transoms. Across the second floor are segmental arched windows with a belt course, crowned by a large central gable flanked by two dormers and corner towers. Much of the original red brick detail, such as the corbelled cornice and quoins, are hidden beneath the modern creamcolored stucco. The original appearance has also been altered by the removal of six tall brick chimneys and the turrets that flanked each side of the central gables. The tall canopy which extended around the north and east facades was lowered in 1918 just below the transoms.

The most impressive aspect of the hotel today is the recent restored interior. The building has public dining rooms on the main floor, private club facilities and small dining rooms on the second floor, and storage on the third floor. The floors originally were of pine, but an early twentieth century owner replaced all but the grand dining room and ball room with tile. The first and second stories are elaborately decorated with over a mile of beautifully burled curly pine woodwork. There is wainscoting in the public rooms, halls, and lobbies, beautifully turned banisters and stairways, detailed brackets and spandrels, and handsome door framing. This rare and extremely hard woodwork was so difficult to work that it was finished in the Texas and Pacific Railway shops at Marshall where the machinery and crafts men were available.

The Ginocchio house, designed in 1886 by C.G. Lancaster, stands to the south of the hotel across Ginocchio St. Originally a street ran between the Paul Whaley house and a brick yard which Ginocchio owned. With plans to build the hotel on the north end of this property, he moved the street from the south bounder of his land and had it constructed next to the future location of his hotel, renaming it Ginocchio St. on the remaining lot he built this two-story Victorian house with handmade bricks fired on the property.

The house has an irregular plan with projecting gabled pavilions on each facade. The main or south facade has a large two-story bayed portion with flat roof, which projects beyond the gabled pavilion at one end. From the opposite corner of the front facade rises a pyramidal roofed cupola with finial and pointed louvered openings at the base. A one-story gallery with turned posts, spandrel and fanned brackets shelters the central double door and a flanking window.

The house originally displayed five porches and all remain except a one-story porch on the north facade The only other structural change was the removal of the chimneys. On the interior Mr. Ginocchio employed the craftsmen at the Texas and Pacific Shops to mill the woodwork used in the decor. Some of the same curly pine, later used abundantly in the hotel, embellishes the house.

Next door to the Ginocchio house is the Whaley House built c. 1886. The one and a half story frame residence has a steeply pitched, truncated hipped roof of tile with a tin balustrade encircling the flat deck. A large partially bayed dormer with three trabeated windows dominates the main facade of the house. Gabled wings with Palladian windows project on the north and south facades, while a gable portion containing trabeated windows extends at the rear. Across the front is a one-story balustrade gallery supported by Ionic columns and crowned by a balustraded deck. The owners are in the process of restoring the house.

East of the Ginocchio House across N. Washington Street is a one-story brick Victorian cottage, known as the Meyers House and was also built by Lancaster in the late 1890's. The main facade displays a projecting bayed portion with a pointed octagonal roof. The windows have segmental brick arches and narrow 2-over-2 lights. Originally a wooden porch with Victorian detail probably embellished the main facade, but was replaced c. 1920's by the present concrete and brick porch. Some wood frame additions have enlarged the house at the rear, but the basic structural plan is unchanged.

Immediately to the south of the Meyers House is the two and a half story frame Allen residence. The house has a central single door flanked by two narrow Victorian 4- over-4 light window on each side. There is a double gallery across the front supported by one-story Doric columns.

On N. Bolivar St. are three notable Victorian houses of the same period. The Mitchell residence, built c. 1900, is a one and a half story ell-shaped cottage with a small turret over the entrance vestibule. An attached gallery supported by turned posts and punched brackets wraps around the projecting gabled portion on the front. Southeast of the Mitchell House on the corner of Repose Lane and N. Bolivar is the growl residence. This two and a half story frame house is in a vernacular Queen Anne style. A one-story attached Victorian gallery surrounds three sides of the house. The porch is embellished by the octagonal roof turret at the southeast corner of the house. The profusion of gables, dormers, chimneys, and a one-bay Victorian porch adds further interest at the roofline. The gables are shingled and some have bracketed eaves. Finally, the Patillo House is another one-story brick Victorian cottage. The house has a typical Victorian T-shaped plan with a projecting gabled portion at the front and rear and an attached gallery across the remainder of both facades. The house has a central door flanked by segmental arched, 4/4 light windows.

The north boundary of the district includes the railroad structures. The present passenger station built in 1908 is the second Texas and Pacific depot. The two- story red brick square building with white trim is in a Mission Revival design, a popular depot style in the first decade of the twentieth century.

The tiled roof with overhanging eaves is a low pitched hip with the characteristic curvilinear gables on three sides main or southwest facade has a central projecting gabled portion displaying the station's name with a onestory arched gallery on either side. The gallery continues around the southeast and northeast sides, but is enclosed on the northeast. An underground tunnel built in 1939 runs beneath the tracts connecting the depot to the hotel. The freight station to the north is contemporary with the depot. Creating additional visual interest are the Bolivar Street viaducts built c. 1914. Still used for automotive traffic, these viaducts provide an overview of the Ginocchio district. To the east are the Texas and Pacific railway shops built c. 1900. The original 1871 shops stood until 1971 when a fire destroyed the building. The foundations exist to the north of the present shops. Two steel water towers in use during the steam locomotive era remain standing on the Texas and Pacific property. Finally, completing the district is the Marsh cemetery, the city's oldest cemetery, which creates a natural boundary at the southeast corner.

The history of Marshall, county seat of Harrison County in northeast Texas, has been closely tied to the railroad, particularly since 1871 when the Texas and Pacific Railroad was chartered. As the only federally chartered railroad in Texas and one of few in the United States, the T & P was given the right to build from Marshall to San Diego, California and granted 20 sections of land per mile. In 1873 Texas and Pacific acquired authority to lay tracts from Marshall to Texarkana. In that same year their shops came to Marshall by an act of the Texas State Legislature which authorized a bond issue in Harrison County for $300,000 and the donation of 66 acres of land by the city. Thus, Marshall became the eastern terminus of the T & P railroad with the establishment of the general offices and shops in that city.

An individual who profited from the railroad boom following the Civil War was Charles A. Ginocchio. Born in Italy in 1844 he left with his family for Richmond, Virginia in 1848. Following the Civil War the Ginocchio family moved to Little Rock, Arkansas. It was in Little Rock, the terminus of the Iron Mountain Railway, that Ginocchio noticed the lack of dining and room accommodations for passengers. Conceiving of the idea to establish restaurants and hotels at the terminus of railroad lines, he prospered in the late nineteenth century as a commissary agent for the Texas and Pacific. In 1869 Charles married Roxana Walter and, after the birth of their first child in 1871, moved to Marshall. Ginocchio had had success with a restaurant in Texarkana and when he heard of the new Texas and Pacific railroad, chose to make his home in Marshall.

Ginocchio first operated the Ginocchio Depot Restaurant, next to the Express Company and Ticket office of the Railroad. Between 1893 and 1896 he built the Ginocchio Hotel in Marshall. In addition to these Marshall enterprises, he operated restaurants and hotels along the railroad lines in Arkansas, Texarkana, Longview, Mineola, Dallas, and Fort Worth.

The Ginocchio family first lived in a small one-story in the 500 block of N. Washington. However, when Roxana's three orphaned nephews came to live with them in 1878, a larger house was needed for the expanded family. In 1886 Charles Ginocchio employed C.G. Lancaster to build a two story house, utilizing bricks made and fired on his property. He also employed the craftsmen at the T & P shops to mill the woodwork used in the interior.

A few years after completing his house, he began construction of the Ginocchio. Reported to be the "finest hotel between New Orleans and Denver," the first floor contained store fronts, a cafe, an elaborate lobby, ballroom, dining room with wine closet, kitchen and pantry. There were 30 private hotel rooms on the second floor and 10 rooms on the third. The ballroom, main lobby and cafe all have entire north wall of double glass doors which open onto the terrace in front of the depot.

During the immigration period of the early 1900's, when trainloads of families headed westward on the T & P, these doors were thrown open and the hotel served 300 to 400 people at a time on long trestle tables set up in the lobbies and the ballroom. Since the train schedule only allowed a 45-minute stop, the buffet method proved to be the most effective way to serve meals to the daily crowds. The Ginocchio continued to operate as a hotel until 1968 when it was restored and reopened only as a restaurant.

When the hotel was completed, Ginocchio built two one story brick houses across Washington Street from his home. one of these was for Emile Meyers who operated a saloon in the new hotel. Meyers, a native of the Alsace-Lorraine, continued in business in the Ginocchio Hotel during prohibition by converting his enterprise into a soda fountain. Ginocchio rented the second brick house, located adjacent to the Allen residence. This house has since been demolished.

One of the nephews, George Signaigo, assisted Ginocchio with his restaurants and hotels. While serving as the bookkeeper at the Fort Worth hotel, George met Elizabeth cook who he later married in 1898. After the death of Charles Ginocchio that same year, Signaigo handled his estate, selling the house to his wife's parents, the Ben cooks, and eventually buying the hotel. When the T & P put diners on their trains, this ruined George inherited businesses, so he sold all of his hotels around 1912 except for the Ginocchio. After the death of Mrs. Ben cook in 1942, George Signaigo sold the house and hotel to the Democrat who in turn sold both structures to the A.J. Pedisons in 1945. The Pedisons presently occupy the old Ginocchio House, but sold the hotel to Hobart Key in 1968.

Several Victorian houses, contemporary with the Ginocchio structures, remain standing in the immediate vicinity. The Whaley House was built approximately the same year as the Ginocchio House on the adjacent lot. Paul Whaley, one of the city's most prominent merchants, owned a retail hardware store and eventually became President of the Logan and Whaley Company in 1909. After marrying in 1884, he built this house for his bride c. 1886. The Allen House across the street was built c. 1890, while the Mitchell House on Bolivar Street was built c. 1900. on the corner of Bolivar and Repose Streets stands the elaborate two-story Queen Anne style frame house built by a prominent Marshall doctor c. 1895. Finally, the earliest residence remaining in the area is the Patillo House built c. 1866 by William Patillo, a teaming and transport contractor.

The railroad structures have also been included in the district boundaries, as they have direct significance to the development of the Ginocchio Historic District. The 1908 passenger depot was erected on the site of an earlier depot built c. 1870. The structure is an interesting example of the Mission Revival style, a typical early twentieth century depot design, which is rapidly disappearing. The Marshall depot has been preserved by utilizing the building as a passenger station for Amtrak. A fire destroyed the original T & P shops in 1971 and only the foundations are now visible. However, the c. 1900 shops remain to the south of the ruins. In addition, a unique sight are the two steel water towers used during the steam locomotive era.

Finally, the Marshall Cemetery, a natural boundary for the district, is significant as the city's oldest cemetery. The tract was donated to the city in the 1840's and was used until the mid 1890's. Buried here are more leaders of the Republic of Texas and early statehood period than any other single cemetery in the state, except perhaps in Austin. Among those buried in the Marshall cemetery are former Texas Governor, Edward Clark (1815- 1880); Confederate General and Veteran of the Texas Revolution and Mexican War, Walter P. Lane (1817-1892); Confederate General Horace Randel (1833-64); and former State Supreme Court Justice, John T. Mills (1817-1871).

The Ginocchio Historic District, presently threatened by urban renewal activities, is important to Marshall as a tangible link with her railroad heritage. Concerned Marshall citizens, realizing the value of the area, are currently trying to draft an historic zoning ordinance to declare the area an historic district.

BIBLIOGRAPHY ON FILE IN THE NATIONAL REGISTER

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