DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna give it the full treatment it deserves. Now, picture this — Norway, 1852. A man named Soren Kolstad decides Texas sounds like a fine idea.
He was a skilled artisan and clockmaker, the kind of man who could coax a heartbeat out of gears and springs, and he packed up everything he had from his native Norway and headed for Palestine, Texas. By 1853 — one year after he arrived, mind you — he had opened a jewelry store. One year.
The man did not dawdle. Now, Soren Kolstad was born in 1823 and lived all the way to 1918. Let those two numbers sit with you for a moment.
Born in 1823. Gone in 1918. The world he passed through on either end of those years would be almost unrecognizable to each other.
And through most of it, that store kept going. Over the years the store moved around, occupying four different locations in Palestine. In 1916, at the third shop, they installed mahogany display cases — the good kind, built to last.
And when the store moved to its present site in 1933, those same mahogany cases came right along. Some things you don't leave behind. Now here is where the story gets genuinely tall — and yet every word of it is true.
That store has been managed by five generations of the Kolstad family. Five. And it is believed to be the oldest retail store in continuous operation by its founding family in the entire state of Texas.
All of Texas. The whole sprawling, legend-soaked lot of it. The Kolstads didn't stop at running a store either — members of the family have been leaders in religious, civic, and educational activities along the way.
A clockmaker from Norway showed up in Palestine in 1852, and a century and a quarter later, his family's store was still standing, still open, still Kolstad's. Some things you just can't wind down.
What the marker says
Soren Kolstad (1823 - 1918), a skilled artisan and clockmaker, migrated to Texas from his native Norway in 1852. He settled in Palestine, where he opened a jewelry store in 1853. The store has occupied four locations. Mahogany display cases, installed in the third shop in 1916, were transferred to the present site in 1933. Managed by five generations of the Kolstad family, this is believed to be the oldest retail store in continuous operation by its founding family in the state of Texas. Members of the Kolstad family have also been leaders in religious, civic, and educational activities. (1977)