DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the J. J. Josey General Store in Austin County.
Now settle in, because this old building has been around the block — and then some. More than once, actually. Literally.
It starts back in 1847. A man named John Crutcher built a general store on the Plaza de Commercio in San Felipe. Now, San Felipe had already been through the fire — and I mean that with full gravity — because this was the last store built in that town after its 1836 burning.
By military order. The whole town, gone to ash on command. And yet, here comes John Crutcher, putting up walls and a roof and opening for business.
Last store standing in a place that had been deliberately burned to the ground. That takes a particular kind of nerve. The store kept going.
Years passed, as they do. Then in 1867, a man by the name of Dr. J.
J. Josey purchased the building, and under his name it stayed in continuous operation — continuous, mind you — all the way until 1942. Nearly a century of commerce out of one structure, which is remarkable enough.
But here's where the story gets its particular Texas character: this building could not sit still. In 1880, Josey moved the store one mile east. A whole mile, to a new location on the Texas Western Narrow Gauge Railroad.
You get the sense the store was following the business rather than the other way around. Then, in 1962, the structure was returned to its original site and restored for use as a museum. After all that wandering — back to where John Crutcher first set the timbers in 1847.
But it wasn't done moving. In 1969, the building was moved again, this time to the Stephen F. Austin State Park, where it rests today.
Built in 1847. Burned around it in 1836. Moved in 1880, returned in 1962, moved again in 1969.
Some buildings hold their ground. The J. J.
Josey General Store held its story instead — and carried it with it every single time.
What the marker says
Built by John Crutcher in 1847 of the Plaza de Commercio in San Felipe, this was the last store built in the town after its 1836 burning by military order. Purchased in 1867 by Dr. J. J. Josey, it was in continuous operation as a store until 1942. The building has been relocated a number of times. Josey, in 1880, moved the store one mile east to a new location on the Texas Western Narrow Gauge Railroad. In 1962 the structure was returned to its original site and restored for use as a museum. It was moved to the Stephen F. Austin State Park in 1969. (1962, 1987)