South Side Historic District

South of downtown Palestine, this neighborhood of about 37 blocks grew up beside the main rail line after the International & Great Northern Railroad arrived in 1872. Workers and officials wanted to live near the depot, shops and the new commercial center, so the Railroad, Larkin & Campbell, and Reagan & Word additions were platted between 1872 and 1887. The district contains 206 contributing resources out of 315, mostly detached single-family houses. Queen Anne residences predominate, alongside vernacular center-passage and L-plan houses, Classical Revival dwellings, and Craftsman and Tudor Revival bungalows added as infill in the early 20th century. Larger homes housed railroad officials and prominent local figures, including a foundry owner, a bank founder and a Texas governor, while smaller houses sheltered railroad employees. A church, a school, a railroad hospital, a grain elevator and the remains of a foundry and lumber mill reflect the area's institutional and industrial past. Historic fences, sidewalks and paving also survive.