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James Polk Randle attended business college in New Orleans and at a very young age he clerked in the
mercantile business of Stieren and Forcke in Gonzales, Texas. For a while he was a traveling salesman but
soon began his own business and built it into the leading dry goods store in Gonzales. James and his wife,
Mamie, purchased the lots for their house in 1884 but did not complete this beautiful Queen Anne style home
until 1898.
When the Gonzales Cotton Mill opened in 1900, James served as president. He sold his mercantile business
in 1900 and organized the Gonzales National Bank where he served as president. When the bank was
sold and discontinued, he helped organize the Farmer's National Bank and served as vice president until
he was elected president in 1914. He served in this position until his sudden death on March 3, 1920, of
a heart attack. The home has twelve foot high ceilings, large rooms, hardwood floors, many small porches,
rumored to have built so that cigar and pipe smokers could smoke out of doors. Owner is Jerry Floyd.
Photograph by Clinton Hille
J.P. RANDLE HOUSE
624 St. Louis Street
