Home of Congressman and Mrs. Alexander W. Gregg

Alexander White Gregg was born January 31, 1855, in Centerville, Leon County, according to Wikipedia and the Political Graveyard. His father was killed in the Civil War, and after his mother remarried he went to Mississippi to live with an aunt. He graduated from King College in Bristol, Tennessee, in 1874 and was admitted to the Texas bar in 1878. From 1913 to 1919 he chaired the House Committee on War Claims. He did not run again in 1918, died in Palestine on April 30, 1919, and is buried at East Hill Cemetery.

What the plaque says

Home of Congressman and Mrs. Alexander W. Gregg Honored national statesman from Palestine, Congressman A. W. Gregg (1855 - 1919) lived in this house at height of his career. Gregg, member of a distinguished southern family, graduated from University of Virginia School of Law; practiced in Palestine; was in State Senate, 1886-1888. Serving in U.S. Congress 1903-1919, he was instrumental in securing sea wall to protect Galveston from such devastation as that of 1900 hurricane. Congressman Gregg married (first) Mary Bridges and (second) Mary Brooks. Had four children. House was built 1886-1892. (1970) Incise on base: Marker donated by Col. Perry E. Taylor

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Texas State Railroad Excursion Train — 3.9 mi
  A round trip of about 25 miles of track between the Palestine and Rusk depots through the Piney Woods, on a line built by prison labor and reopened as a tourist railroad in 1976.

More markers nearby

• First Methodist Church of Palestine — steps away
• Site of Palestine Service Men's Club, World War II — 0.2 mi
• Kolstad Jewelers — 0.3 mi
• Eilenberger's Bakery — 0.3 mi