FIND THE HISTORY HIDDEN IN MODERN-DAY VICTORIA

By Ciara McCarthy/cmccarthy@vicad.com The J.D. Mitchell House, 301 S. Bridge St., was first built in 1893. It was restored and today is used as office space. FIND THE HISTORY HIDDEN IN MODERN-DAY VICTORIA

BY CIARA MCCARTHY cmccarthy@vicad.com

As one of the oldest cities and counties in Texas, Victoria has its fair share of historic buildings and homes. Even as Victoria has developed into a 21st century city, preservationists and other local leaders have worked to maintain some of the most important and beautiful homes and buildings.

Much of that work has been led by the nonprofit Victoria Preservation Inc., which informs and educates the public about the city’s legacy while protecting the area’s rich history.

For those new to Victoria or new to its history, the best place to learn about it is by driving or walking through the historic sites that are still around today. The best spot to begin, said Victoria Preservation’s executive director, Jeff Wright, is the courthouse square, the heart of today’s downtown, which still has the same basic setup as when Victoria was first formed as a city.

Like most county courthouses in South Texas, the Victoria County Courthouse is a gem of early architecture in the city, Wright said. The courthouse was first built in 1892 and is considered a masterpiece of Romanesque Revival design. The limestone building, which was designed by Texas architect J. Riely Gordon, was restored and rededicated in 2001. Both the original 1892 courthouse and the neighboring modern courthouse built in 1967 also offer some of the best historical artwork you can find in Victoria, Wright said. Both are public buildings and open to anyone who wants to take a look inside during business hours.

The next stop on your tour is just outside: DeLeon Plaza. The public space has multiple historic artifacts if you simply know the right place to look, Wright says.

“That city block (of DeLeon Plaza) along with the courthouse block have both served the same purpose since the town’s founding,” Wright said about the history still embedded in downtown Victoria.

The antique lamp posts in the plaza are all inscribed with names, and if you look closely, you can piece together a who’s who of early Victoria, Wright said.

Under the modern-day bandstand is the former location of the standpipe, which is where groundwater from the Guadalupe River was pumped (from the location of the modern-day PumpHouse restaurant) to the center of town to provide city residents with water. DeLeon Plaza is also home to the Six Flags Monument,

which documents some of the most pivotal moments in Victorian and Texas history.

VPI hosts a yearly tour of the most historic homes in “old Victoria.” In 2019, the tour will be April 27-28, and visitors will get a chance to walk inside multiple houses to take a peek at the interiors of the historic residences. Along with VPI’s and Explore Victoria’s driving tour pamphlet that will guide you through old Victoria, the nonprofit also published a coffee table book last year that has details on 35 of the city’s most historic homes, along with other historic buildings.

If historic homes are what you’re after, Wright recommends you start outside City Hall at West Juan Linn Street and Bridge Street, which was the original heart of downtown. There stand three of the most unique homes the city has to offer: the Lorenzo Dow Heaton House, the T.M. O’Connor House and the J.D. Mitchell House.

The J.D. Mitchell House, 301 S. Bridge St., today houses office suites but was originally built in January 1893 for a local civic leader, according to Victoria Preservation. Before its current life as an office building, the structure was also used as a mortuary. The neighboring Lorenzo Dow Heaton House, 307 S. Bridge St., dates to 1877.

“We’ve got this really interesting historical layering,” Wright said of Bridge Street. “As you drive north, you go from 1870 to 1880 to 1890s.”

Another home Wright recommends is the John Donaldson house, on Vine Street near Goodwin Avenue. The home is built from natural stone and is the only one of its kind in Victoria, Wright said.

“As you’re going through the driving tour, you’ll see Jules Leffland’s name throughout,” Wright said. “He’s kind of the preeminent architect in not only Victoria but a lot of South Texas.”

Wright considers the old Nazareth Academy, 105 W. Church St., one of Leffland’s greatest feats.

And an important stop for anyone interested in Victoria’s history is the Museum of the Coastal Bend, Wright said. The museum’s exhibits offer a peek into Texas history through both permanent and temporary exhibits. It is on the campus of Victoria College, 2200 E. Red River St.  IF YOU GO

VICTORIA PRESERVATION INC.

For more information about Victoria Preservation Inc. or to get a map of the driving tour of historic Victoria, go to the VPI office.

205 W. Goodwin Ave. (361) 573-1878 victoriapreservation.com