Merritt Building

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. You're rolling through Henderson, seat of Rusk County, and if that downtown block looks like it's been holding things together for a good long while, well, there's a reason for that. One of the first lots occupied after Henderson was founded in 1848.

First lots. Meaning when this town was barely a town, somebody looked at that corner and said, yes, right here. That's where we start.

And the starting never really stopped. Come 1883, a man named Jesse F. Merritt bought that lot, and he didn't sit on it.

He had a brick building put up, right there, purpose-built for his Sunny South Saloon. Now that is a name. The Sunny South Saloon.

Two local brickmasons did the work, Dave Howard and Logan Howard, and those two built something that had no intention of falling down. It hasn't. Over the years that building has been home to saloons, offices, a local social club.

Things came and went, but the building stayed. And then there's this detail that deserves a moment of its own: Cameron's Drug Store called that address home for fifty years. Fifty years in one building.

Half a century of prescriptions and, probably, a fair amount of local news traded across the counter. That's not a tenant. That's practically part of the architecture.

The Merritt Building is still considered important to Henderson's downtown today. Jesse Merritt bought a lot, two brothers laid the brick, and somewhere north of a hundred and forty years later, the corner still holds.

What the marker says

One of the first lots occupied after the town of Henderson was founded in 1848, this site has been a cornerstone in the city's downtown development. Jesse F. Merritt bought the lot in 1883 and had this brick building constructed for his Sunny South Saloon. Built by local brickmasons Dave and Logan Howard, it has been home to several enterprises over the years, including saloons, offices, and a local social club. It was the location for Cameron's Drug Store for fifty years. The Merritt Building remains important to Henderson's downtown area.