Hammack Building

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, as best as Duane can lay it out for you. Now, before there was a Hammack Building standing on that corner in Gatesville, there was a man named John Chrisman walking the land with a surveyor's chain. Back in 1854, Chrisman helped survey the town of Gatesville itself, and the property where this building eventually rose was once his.

Think about that for a second. The same ground a surveyor measured out became the address for one of the more distinguished commercial buildings in Coryell County. Some land just has a way of accumulating history.

Enter W. W. Hammack, born in 1860, gone by 1913, and somewhere in between, in the late 1800s, he put up a building worth talkin' about.

And I do mean worth talkin' about. This was not a plain box of brick slapped together on a deadline. The Hammack Building is Italianate style, with elaborate brickwork, the kind of craftsmanship that announces itself before you even read the sign.

Now, W. W. Hammack built it, but the Hammack family leased the structure over the years, and that building became something of a revolving door for Gatesville commerce.

The Gatesville National Bank called it home. So did a saloon. So did a drugstore.

Other commercial establishments moved through as well. One building, one corner, one piece of ground that John Chrisman helped survey in 1854. All those different lives lived under that Italianate roofline.

The elaborate brickwork never changed. Everything else did.

What the marker says

The Hammack Building is located on property once owned by John Chrisman, who helped survey the town of Gatesville in 1854. The building was constructed by W. W. Hammack (1860-1913) in the late 1800s. Over the years, the Hammack family leased the structure, which has housed the Gatesville National Bank, a saloon, a drugstore, and other commercial establishments. The Italianate style building features elaborate brickwork.