H.C. Craig Building

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and here's how I'm gonna tell it to you. Way back in 1903, somebody had a vision for a corner of Williamson County, and that somebody was Hugh Clifford Craig. Born in 1850, Craig didn't just put up a building.

He put up a statement. Iron columns. Pressed metal ornamentation.

The kind of ornate Victorian structure that makes people slow down and look twice, then look again. This was a furniture store, yes, but it was dressed like it had somewhere important to be. Now, Craig ran his business out of that building for a few years, and then, in 1906, he sold the furniture operation to a local competitor by the name of W.H.

Davis. Sold the business. But here's the part worth noticing.

He kept the building. Hugh Clifford Craig let someone else sell the sofas, but he held onto those iron columns and that pressed metal like a man who knows exactly what he's got. The Davis Furniture Company operated there for years, right up until 1936, when they finally moved on.

And that's when Craig, still in the picture at eighty-six years old, well, that's when Craig sold the structure itself to S.W. Henderson. Henderson came in and ran a variety store there for many years after that.

The building that started as one man's ornate dream just kept on working, kept on standing, kept on turning heads. Hugh Clifford Craig died in 1938, two years after he made that final sale. He never did see those iron columns fall, because they haven't.

That building is still there in Williamson County, still elaborately designed, still dressed like it has somewhere important to be.

What the marker says

Built in 1903, this ornate Victorian structure originally housed the furniture store of Hugh Clifford Craig (1850-1938). Craig sold his business to local competitor W.H. Davis in 1906, but retained ownership of the building. In 1936, after the Davis Furniture Company moved, Craig sold the structure to S.W. Henderson, who ran a variety store here for many years. Elaborately designed, the building features iron columns and pressed metal ornamentation. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1990