Hardware and Tin Shop

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Picture this square in Hood County back in 1870: nothing but a woodland dotted with cabins. Quiet.

Modest. The kind of place you'd ride through without slowing down. But sit tight, because that square had some ambitions it hadn't shown yet.

Before long, buildings of stone were rising up, and that stone wasn't hauled in from somewhere far off; it was quarried less than a mile away. Close enough that you could almost hear the chisels from the middle of town. In 1882, an investor by the name of John D.

Baker put up this very structure. Solid, purposeful, the kind of building that means somebody's planning to stay. Baker held onto it for eight years, then in 1890 he sold it to a pair of saloonkeepers, Aston and Landers.

Now I'm not saying anything happened because of that arrangement, but I will note that in 1891, this building and its neighbors required extensive repairs. After a fire. Make of that what you will.

By 1895, a fellow named J.R. Morris (ex-county clerk, so a man who knew his way around paperwork and particulars) had set up a hardware and tin shop right here. And up on the second floor, a man named Lon Morris ran his law offices.

Lon Morris was widely known, and not just as a lawyer; he was a college benefactor too. One building, one square, one story that started in the trees and ended up meaning something. That's how this piece of Hood County earned its place in the record.

What the marker says

A cabin-dotted Woodland in 1870, this square soon had buildings of stone quarried less than a mile away. Investor John D. Baker built this structure in 1882 and in 1890 sold it to saloonkeepers Aston and Landers. Extensive repairs were made in 1891, after a fire in this and neighbor buildings. By 1895, ex-county clerk J.R. Morris had a hardware and tin shop here. Lon Morris, a widely-known lawyer and college benefactor, had his offices on the second floor.