Posted by 
- There are 2 markers here
Townsend-West House
Eastlake style embellishments make this a Victorian jewel. It was built in 1890 by contractor Jacob Wirtz for Marcus H. and Annie (Burford) Townsend. A State Representative (1883-85) and Senator (1889-93), Townsend sponsored bill for state purchase of the Alamo; he also named a county for his law partner, Major Robert Foard.
Bought 1906 by Thurmond Bowers and Erma (Zumwalt) West, house is occupied and preserved by their son, Thurmond Baltzar West.
Site of Railway Hospital
Dr. Robert Henry Harrison (1826-1905), graduate of the Botanico Medical College, Cincinnati, and Alabama Medical College, moved to Columbus in the 1870s, while the Galveston, Harrisburg & San Antonio (later Southern Pacific) railway was building Columbus-San Antonio line. Physician to G.H. & S.A. president T.W. Peirce, he was 1880-87 medical and surgical director, Atlantic Division of the Southern Pacific. In 1880 he built a hospital for railway employees at this site. Staff included Drs. J.H. Bowers, A.S. McDaniel, and R.H. Harrison, Jr. About 1886, hospital burned, and was not rebuilt.
