Davenport Grocery

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna pass it right along to you. Now, some stores just sell groceries. And then there are places that become something else entirely, something a neighborhood leans on for decades, the kind of place people talk about like it's a member of the family.

Davenport Grocery, over in Wichita Falls, is that kind of place. And it started, like a lot of good Texas stories, with people deciding to make something out of what they had. Rall D.

Davenport, born in 1902, was a native of Arkansas. He and Ora L. Davenport, born in 1905, moved to Wichita Falls around 1920 and settled into their home at 3rd and Seymour Street, which folks today know as Farris Street.

Now picture that corner. Oil boom still humming. Railroad men coming and going.

Workers with calloused hands and empty stomachs, and no grocery store nearby to speak of. The Davenports recognized the need. So in 1926, they did what resourceful people do.

They converted the front of the house into a store. Not a separate building. The front of the house.

I like that. No grand construction project, no waiting around. Just the Davenports rolling up their sleeves and making it happen right where they already were.

That store served oil field workers and railroad employees during the tail end of the boom, and it kept right on serving the community long after the boom quieted down. Now, here's the part that'll stop you in your tracks. Walk into Davenport Grocery today and you are walking on the original hardwood floors.

You can lean against the original counter. And that solid oak meat-cutting block? Eighty years old, according to the marker, and still there, still holding its ground.

Some things are built to last, and some things just refuse to quit. For many decades, Davenport Grocery has carried a title worth noting: Home of the Hot Links. That's a reputation you earn one customer at a time, one plate at a time.

Ora passed in 1997. Rall followed in 1998. But the business they built on that corner, in the front of their home, in the middle of an oil boom, with a vision as practical as it was proud, kept right on going.

The Davenport family continues to operate this thriving business. That house became a store, that store became a landmark, and that corner in Wichita Falls is still theirs.

What the marker says

DAVENPORT GROCERY RALL D. DAVENPORT (1902-1998), A NATIVE OF ARKANSAS, AND ORA L. DAVENPORT (1905-1997) MOVED TO WICHITA FALLS AROUND 1920 AND SETTLED IN THEIR HOME AT 3RD AND SEYMOUR STREET (NOW FARRIS STREET). RECOGNIZING THE NEED FOR A GROCERY STORE, THE DAVENPORTS DECIDED TO CONVERT THE FRONT OF THE HOUSE INTO A STORE IN 1926. AT THAT TIME, THE AREA WAS STILL IN THE OIL BOOM AND THE STORE SERVED OIL FIELD WORKERS AND RAILROAD EMPLOYEES. THE ORIGINAL HARDWOOD FLOORS REMAIN AS WELL AS THE ORIGINAL COUNTER AND AN EIGHTY-YEAR-OLD SOLID OAK MEAT-CUTTING BLOCK. FOR MANY DECADES, DAVENPORT GROCERY, HOME OF THE HOT LINKS, HAS SERVED THE COMMUNITY. THE DAVENPORT FAMILY CONTINUES TO OPERATE THIS THRIVING BUSINESS.