Cochran, Blair and Potts Department Store

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm just along for the ride. Alright, settle in, because this one's got more chapters than a family Bible. It starts in 1869, in Centerville, Texas, where a man named Henry Mansfield Cook opened his first store.

Now, Henry Mansfield Cook was not a man who sat still. By 1874 he had established a firm called H.M. Cook and Company, bringing in his son-in-law, Thomas W.

Cochran, as a partner. Two years after that, in 1876, the whole operation pulled up stakes and moved to Buffalo, Texas. And what did they sell out of that mercantile?

Dry goods, hardware, drugs, coffins, and they ran a lumberyard on top of it all. If you needed it to live, or needed it when you stopped living, H.M. Cook and Company had you covered.

In 1883 the firm relocated again, this time to Belton, and the following year, 1884, they opened a store at the very site this marker stands on. The roots were going down deep now. Then in 1896, Cook's son, Thomas A., joined the firm, and the business took on a new name to match: Cook, Cochran, and Company.

Three men, one name, one store. But time has a way of reshuffling things. H.M.

Cook died, and three years after his passing, in 1904, two younger men stepped forward. Cochran's son, Harry T., and Cochran's son-in-law, Jesse S. Blair, purchased Thomas Cook's interest in the firm.

The name changed again to T.W. Cochran and Company. T.W.

Cochran himself died in 1910, and his son-in-law, Arthur H. Potts, became a partner. The business kept breathing, kept adapting.

By 1917 the firm had the name it would carry into legend: Cochran, Blair, and Potts. Now, you might think a store that had survived moves and deaths and generational handoffs had seen the worst of it. You would be wrong.

In 1928, fire destroyed the firm's inventory. The whole thing, gone. But here is the thing about people who have been in business since 1869: they do not quit easily.

In 1929, the business reopened, under the management of J.S. Blair, H.T. Cochran, A.H.

Potts, H.E. Blair, and Roy Campbell Potts. Five names on the door and a store back in business.

The corporation was dissolved in 1938, and the business became a partnership owned by members of the Cochran, Blair, and Potts families. Then, in 1970, the firm became solely owned by descendants of Roy Campbell Potts. And in 1977, it was incorporated.

One store, one site in Belton, and more than a century of the same families passing the keys from hand to hand. That right there is how you write a name on a building that sticks.

What the marker says

Henry Mansfield Cook opened his first store in Centerville, Texas, in 1869, and in 1874 established the firm of H.M. Cook & Company with his son-in-law, Thomas W. Cochran. The firm moved to Buffalo, Texas, in 1876. Their mercantile business stocked dry goods, hardware, drugs, coffins, and included a lumberyard. The firm relocated to Belton in 1883 and opened a store at this site in 1884. Cook's son, Thomas A., joined the firm in 1896 and the business became known as Cook, Cochran, & Company. In 1904, three years after the death of H.M. Cook, Cochran's son, Harry T., and his son-in-law, Jesse S. Blair, purchased Thomas Cook's interest in the firm and the business became known as T.W. Cochran and Company. T.W. Cochran died in 1910 and his son-in-law, Arthur H. Potts, became a partner in the company. In 1917 the firm became known as Cochran, Blair, & Potts. Though the firm's inventory was destroyed by fire in 1928 the business reopened in 1929 under the management of J.S. Blair, H.T. Cochran, A.H. Potts, H.E. Blair, and Roy Campbell Potts. The corporation was dissolved in 1938 and the business became a partnership owned by members of the Cochran, Blair, and Potts families. The firm, which became solely owned by descendants of Roy Campbell Potts in 1970, was incorporated in 1977. Sesquicentennial of Texas Statehood 1845-1995