Bush-Morgan Cherry Building

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm just along for the ride. Picture Granbury, Texas, 1891. And somebody's putting up a building that, best as anyone could tell, had absolutely no intention of sitting still.

The Bush-Morgan Cherry Building, they call it now, and three names on one building ought to tell you something right there. This place had range. Constructed in 1891, it wasted no time getting to work.

For the first three years (1891 to 1894) it housed the dry goods store of one F.C. Bush. And F.C. wasn't just a merchant.

In 1892, he was pulling double duty as the city tax collector and secretary of Granbury. The man had business coming at him from every direction, and his building was right there keeping up with him. Then 1895 rolls around, and the building makes a pivot.

The Morgan Drug Store moves in, run by Eugene H. Morgan. Now here's where the story gets a little something extra: Eugene H.

Morgan didn't stay a druggist. That man went on to become a prominent local physician. Whether the building inspired him or just housed him while he figured it out, well, the marker doesn't say, and I won't guess.

What I will say is the building wasn't done yet, not by a long stretch. For the next seventy-two years (seventy-two) it kept on with drugstores. One of those was the store of William H.

Cherry, and William H. Cherry was not a man you'd overlook in Granbury. He served as mayor of the city and as a director of The First National Bank.

Three names. One building. Tax collectors, physicians, mayors, and bankers; all of them, at one point or another, passing through those same doors.

Some buildings just have a way of finding the right people. Or maybe it's the other way around.

What the marker says

Constructed in 1891, this building has been associated throughout its history with prominent Granbury citizens and successful businesses. From 1891 until 1894, it served as the dry goods store of F.C. Bush, who was the city tax collector and secretary in 1892. In 1895 the building housed the Morgan Drug Store, run by Eugene H. Morgan, who later became a prominent local physician. For the next 72 years, the building was associated with other drugstores, including that of William H. Cherry, who served as mayor of Granbury and as a director of The First National Bank.