March 23, 2015 - The spring issue of We the People of Shelby County will be available for reading at www.shelbycountytx.com on April 1. In this second in a series about storefronts on our historic square, their history dates from before the historic courthouse was built and continues into the 21st century. Many citizens of Center have been helpful by providing oral as well as written history, and that support continues even as the summer issue begins to take shape.
Yes, those few stores in the last quarter of the 19th century were very different than those today. Starting as early as 1867, with a few stores at the most important crossroads in the area (now the intersection of Tenaha and Nacogdoches Streets—the NW corner of our square), the square format soon began to emerge with the construction of the new courthouse in 1885. Soon, Shelbyville Street was functioning as Center’s main street, with businesses and homes stretching from the square to the new train station in east Center by 1902. (See the accompanying 1912 diagram of the north side of the square, two blocks deep.)
In contrast to this earlier time, stores and services located on the square in the 1950's were more similar to what we see today, although that comparison is a relative one. For example, of the fourteen storefronts on the north side of the square in 1950, only one (Farmer's State Bank) remains today. We had several barbers to choose from, a couple of department stores and hardware stores, several clothing stores, two banks, and a variety of specialty shops, small cafes, cleaners and other services.
We bought our cars on or near the square and visited the corner post office every day. We still had grocery stores on the square and others very near the square, although outlets for food and farm supplies were rapidly moving to the outlying areas. Yes, it could be said that, in the 50's, we could still make a trip to the square for one-stop shopping, just as our grandfathers did in much earlier times.
Many of the stores have a rich history to report, and some of them had owners and employees whose descendants we now know as productive citizens of Center. The O.H. Polley Mercantile Dry Goods Store on the north side of the square, for example, existed from 1920 to 1969; its long life necessitated its three founders (O.H. Polley (Sr), H.H. Jones (Sr), and M.B. Simon) to employ so many individuals that they were as difficult to count as to name. Such effort has been made however, and readers may want to add to the list. You may do so by email: dpswanzy@shelbycountytx.com
(The writer publishes “We the People of Shelby County,” a free online magazine about local history. He may be contacted at dswanzy@shelbycountytx.com.)
