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Galveston County
City of Galveston
News Release
Friday, January 21, 2011
Galveston’s Newest Landmark: 1207 Postoffice
Home owned by several individuals significant to Galveston and Texas History.
Galveston, Texas – The Galveston City Council recently granted the John Davidson-Samuel Moore Penland House located at 1207 Postoffice landmark status. Constructed circa 1868, the home is approximately 143 years old and represents domestic architecture typical of the post-Civil War building boom of Galveston Island. The Landmark and Planning Commissions both unanimously approved the Landmark Designation prior to the City Council vote.
Ship Captain John Davidson, one of Galveston’s first settlers, constructed the home between 1866 and 1868. Davidson, a Norwegian immigrant, arrived in Galveston in 1839 at the age of 21. Captain Davidson died heroically in 1868 trying to rescue the pilot of a wrecked boat. In 1870 Mary Fisher McKeen bought the home with her husband. Mary was the daughter of colonizer Henry Fisher, who through the Fisher-Miller Grant authorized by President Sam Houston, helped bring German immigrants to settle Texas. The property changed hands again in 1872 when Major Samuel Moore Penland, great-nephew of Sam Houston, purchased the home. Penland amassed a large collection of letters from famous men of the early nineteenth century including, among others, Ulysses S. Grant, Robert E. Lee, Walt Whitman, and of course, his great-uncle, the first President of the Republic of Texas. Galveston’s Rosenberg Library has his collection in their archives.
The house is an example of the vernacular Greek Revival style. This type of home design referenced the stylistic elements of the Greek architecture it hoped to emulate. Popular in the United States from 1820 to 1860, Greek Revival houses were fashionable in Galveston from its early settlement until after the Civil War and can be found in the oldest developed parts of the Island. The Davidson-Penland House is one story, five bays wide, with a hipped roof. Since the late 1990s, several owners have contributed to the rehabilitation of the property. In 1997-99, two side porches were enclosed and an addition constructed.
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The Texas Historic Marker beside the front stairs reads:
Constructed between 1866 and 1868, this house belonged to a number of significant Galveston residents. Captain John Davidson, an immigrant from Norway and early Galveston settler, built it. In 1870, two years after Davidson died in an attempt to rescue a pilot from a wrecked bark, his widow, Sophia (Dettmar), sold the home to Mary (Fisher) McKeen, daughter of 1842 Fisher-Miller land grant coauthor Henry Fisher.
In 1872, the McKeens sold this house to Samuel Moore Penland (1845–1922). A grandnephew of Sam Houston and native of Alabama, Penland served in Galveston during the Civil War and settled in the city afterward. Addressed as Major Penland because of his tenure in the Texas Volunteer Guards, he was also an auctioneer, businessman and customs official. Penland also served as an original trustee of the Galveston Orphans' Home. He donated a number of Sam Houston’s artifacts and his own collection of letters of other famous individuals to the Galveston Rosenberg Library. William N. Scott, pastor of First Presbyterian Church, next purchased the property, owning the home from 1882 to 1901. Later owners included civic leader and merchant John F. Hargrave and his wife, Ada.
This hipped-roof, Greek Revival house features stairs leading up to a wide front porch supported by square columns. Other features include a front door framed by sidelights and a transom, an ornate railing design, and paired double-hung windows. Having survived the 1885 fire and 1900 storm, it is one of the oldest existing examples of its kind in the East End district.
Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 2011
Marker is Property of the State of Texas
Note the High Water Marker on the right front corner of the house.