DUANE
Duane's take
The marker in Val Verde County tells it this way, and I'm just passin' it along. Now, every great Texas story has a moment where somebody looks out a train window and changes their whole life. Max Stool had one of those moments.
Max was a Jewish merchant, born somewhere in that stretch of Russia that used to be part of Poland. He made it to America, landed in Chicago first — which is a fine city, no argument there — but Chicago wasn't the end of the line. In 1904, Max boarded a train headed for California.
California. That was the plan. Then the train rolled through Del Rio, and something about this little border town caught his eye.
He decided to stay. Just like that. California never got him.
Max started out selling wares as a peddler, working the streets and the folks around Del Rio, learning the place and earning its trust. And from that peddler's trade, he built something with a name that told you exactly what he was offerin' — The Guarantee. A department store.
His own. Now Max's wife, Anna — Anna Ratner Stool, also a native of Russia — she joined him in the business, and together those two were something to reckon with. They didn't just run a store.
They bought land. They built commercial structures. They went out and persuaded national chain stores to come set up shop in the developing downtown of Del Rio.
Think about that for a second — a man who stepped off a train on a whim, convincing national outfits that this was exactly where they needed to be. Anna passed in 1934, and Max in 1972, and the home they shared together stood right here on this spot. The marker remembers them not just as merchants, but as a reflection of something bigger — hard work, entrepreneurship, and a deep commitment to the quality of life in the town that a train window once convinced one man to call home.
What the marker says
Jewish merchant Max Stool (d. 1972) emigrated to the U.S. from an area of Russia once part of Poland. Settling first in Chicago, he came to Del Rio in 1904 while on a train trip to California and decided to stay. He sold wares as a peddler and soon opened a department store known as "The Guarantee." His wife, Anna (Ratner) (d. 1934), also a native of Russia, joined him in the business, and together they bought land and built commercial structures, persuading national chain stores to locate in the developing downtown. The story of Jewish immigrants Max and Anna Stool, whose home was located here, reflects hard work, entrepreneurship and commitment to the quality of life in their adopted hometown. (2006)