Campbell Building

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Campbell Building, straight from the record. Now, if you ever find yourself rolling through Somervell County and you spot a building that looks like it was put here to outlast just about everything else in the county, well, you might be looking at the Campbell Building. And let me tell you, there is a reason it still stands.

Back in 1894 and into 1895, a man named T. B. Campbell, a medical doctor, and his wife Julia set out to build something.

Not something flimsy, not something temporary. Something with native limestone walls eighteen inches thick. Eighteen inches.

You could knock on that wall all day and the wall would not notice. The pillars and the window sills were hand-hewn, shaped by hand, fitted by hand, set in place by hand. That kind of work does not happen in a hurry, and it does not come apart in a hurry either.

Now here is where the story gets interesting, because a building that solid tends to attract everything a community needs. Over the years, the Campbell Building housed a general store. Other businesses came and went through those thick limestone walls.

At one point it held a telephone exchange, which means this was where voices traveled in and out of the county, carried by wire across the Texas hills. There was a post office in there too, letters and parcels passing through like the whole region's business had a home. And upstairs?

The upper floor was used for meetings. You have to wonder what was decided up there, what was argued over, what was settled, all of it happening above those hand-hewn pillars. T.

B. Campbell and Julia built more than a building in 1894 and 1895. They built a place that a whole community kept finding reasons to walk into.

That is not nothing. That is, in its own quiet way, just about everything.

What the marker says

Built by T. B. Campbell, M.D., and wife Julia in 1894-95. Native limestone walls are 18" thick; pillars and window sills hand-hewn. Has housed general store. Other businesses, telephone exchange, post office. Upper floor used for meetings. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1971