M.C. McLemore Upping Stone - Galveston, TX
Posted by: 
jhuoni
N 29° 18.081 W 094° 47.029
15R E 326747 N 3242693
Just six blocks from the Seawall, at 1019 16th Street, this home is on the National Register of Historic Places.
Waymark Code: WMYYAX
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 08/10/2018
Views: 3
From the National Register of Historic Places Inventory Nomination Form, April 1983:
Architecturally, The Lasker Home for Children is an important example of urban Greek Revival architecture comparable to other noted Greek Revival buildings in Galveston. As a place of refuge for children since 1901, it still serves as a non-sectarian institution providing care, instruction, education, and maintenance for minority-age children. Organized as The Society for the Help of Homeless Children, the name of the Home was changed to The Lasker Home for Homeless Children in appreciation of the help given by Morris Lasker, a Galveston merchant, banker, and philanthropist. Many citizens of the city have contributed time, effort, and money to the support of the home since its inception. Because of its age, scale, and function, it has been a Galveston landmark for over a hundred years.
The first owner of the property was Judge John L. Darragh (Darrough), who bought it with other property from the Galveston City Company in 1860. Tax records show the value of the lots as $800 from 1861 to 1868, with no mention of improvements. Judge Darragh was a prominent pioneer merchant who came to Galveston from Philadelphia in 1843. He was president of the Galveston City Company, the National Bank of Texas, and the Wharf Company. In 1868, he sold the property to Marcus C. McLemore. In 1889 he was declared insane by the court and left Galveston to live in the east, where he died in 1892.
Marcus C. McLemore was a Galveston lawyer practicing in partnership with F. Charles Hume in 1870. In 1882 he is listed in the Galveston City Directory as having an office with A.R. Campbell, attorney, at 77 Strand. He was Court Recorder for Galveston County for many years before his death in 1898. McLemore came to Texas from South Carolina. Tax returns for 1868 show that he paid taxes on property in Galveston valued at $15,700, not including lots 8 and 9 in Block 136, which represent the present structure. In 1870 he did pay taxes on this property valued at $8,000 with improvements. McLemore died without a will and research could find no obituary or other death notice. Laura is listed as a widow in the Galveston City Directory of 1899, and not at all after 1901. Their son, Marcus McLemore, became United States District Attorney, Eastern District of Texas, in 1899.