Description: The Redlands Hotel is a Two-Part Vertical Block building at the northeast corner of N. Queen Street and W. Oak Street in Palestine’s historic district. The hotel, which has a U-shaped plan and load-bearing masonry walls, displays architectural elements indicative of the Renaissance Revival style. Noteworthy features include the quoin-like brick in the end bays of the west and south elevations, and the entablature with large brackets. The Redlands Hotel is in good condition and has changed only minimally on the exterior since completion in 1914. During the mid-1910’s, the Young Men’s Business League (which later became the Palestine Chamber of Commerce) recognized the need for a downtown hotel that would attract visitors and businesses to downtown Palestine, as well as confirm the city’s growing status as an important regional center of commerce and transportation. The burning of the tree story Commercial Hotel in 1914 intensified the need for a new hotel. Members of the organization formed the Palestine Hotel Company, a consortium of private citizens and financial institutions, to raise funds, purchase suitable land, and oversee construction of the new building. In 1914, the Palestine Hotel Company purchased three downtown lots facing W. Oak at the corner of N. ...

Description: The I&GN Hospital, one of the most noteworthy landmarks in all of Palestine, has been a prominent fixture in the predominantly residential neighborhood south of the downtown area since its construction in 1921. The 3-story, metal-framed, brick-faced hospital, along with associated outbuilding (the Nurses Home), occupies an entire block. The building has a box-like massing with some Classical Revival detailing, especially around the primary entrance. The wide, cast stone bands divide the exterior into three components and emphasize the horizontal massing of the building. The hospital and nurses home retain their integrity to a remarkable degree. The International & Great Northern Railroad operated a hospital for its employees on this site beginning in 1884. Prominent Houston architect Alfred E. Finn designed the present building for the railroad, which formally opened in July 1922. Local architect Theodore S. Maffitt designed the adjacent nurses’ quarters in 1924. The main building served as medical offices for physicians in private practice for years, with the Nurses building serving as the headquarters of the Palestine chapter of the Red Cross, but both buildings have been mostly vacant for several years now.

Description: The Anderson County Courthouse is the largest historic institutional building in Palestine and arguably the most prominent architectural landmark. Sited atop a hill that overlooks the central business district to the southwest, the courthouse retains its historic integrity and character. The original architects, C.H. Page and Brother incorporated Classical Revival elements in the design, which bears a resemblance to the firm’s courthouse design for Williamson County, Texas. Legislators designated Palestine the county seat of Anderson County in 1846, the year of the county’s creation. This is the county’s fourth courthouse, and the third to be erected on this site. It was designed in 1913-1914 by the noted Austin architectural firm of Charles Page and Brother. B.P. Garvey of Gainesville, Texas, served as the contractor. The building’s formal dedication ceremony was held December 20, 1914. Billy Bean documented the courthouse in his 1980 survey. The building was extensively remodeled in 1986. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1992 - Building #92001256

Description: The remodeling for the storefront on this 2-story brick building detracts from the property’s historic character, but the second floor is relatively unaltered. The structure lacks much stylistic ornamentation, but is a good and mostly intact example of a Two-part Commercial Block building in Palestine’s historic downtown. German immigrant Frederick H. Eilenberger (1878-1959) moved his highly successful American Home Bakery to this site in 1918. Founded in 1898, the bakery was originally located at the corner of John and Oak Streets. Eilenberger sold the business to his two sons and his son-in-law in 1949; the bakery continued to sell baked bread throughout East Texas until 1968. Today the business is known as Eilenberger’s Bakery, and is famous for its fruit and pecan cakes, which it markets worldwide.

Description: Mule Barn located on Crawford Street. This building is actually built on top of Town Creek (AKA Wells Creek), which runs through the town of Palestine. At one time it housed mules, a feed and seed store, an antique store, but now is home of the Wells Creek Saloon.