Edgemont
W of Marshall, Marshall, TXEdgemont, an excellent example of Greek Revival architecture, is located in Harrison County, with several century-old plantation houses. Many of the mansions and raised cottages share the native materials of brick from local clay and hardwood timber. In the mid 1840s Montre- ville Hall, a prominent lawyer and Texas politician, contracted W.R.D. Ward to build Edgemont near Marshall, a city in Harrison County. Ward had constructed several structures in Marshall, such as Magnolia Hall (Nat'l Reg. submission "Old Pierce House", 4-13-73) and the First Methodist Church of Marshall. Edgemont entertained prominent Texas leaders, including the ex-governor Edward Clark, in grand style.
Montreville Hall, born in 1819 in Alabama, studied law at the University of Virginia before he left for Texas. When he arrived in Marshall, Texas in 1844 he bought 640 acres of. land three miles west of Marshall from Clark & Barton for $1000. This land was originally owned by George W. Morgan, who received it from the Republic of Texas for his service in the Republic's army. While W.R.D. Ward was building the house, during the mid-1840s, the Halls lived in a house built by William Barton, circa 1830. Slave labor built Edgemont of hand-pressed bricks made on the premises from native clay.
Montreville Hall was a prominent farmer, lawyer, and community leader of Harrison County. Highly regarded in the community he received numerous political appointments. He represented the people of Harrison County as a delegate to a people's convention for secession. When Gov. Houston. called, a special legislative session to empower the people's convention for secession Hall was the representative from Harrison County again.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1977.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.