Site of First Mercantile Building

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, picture the Gulf Coast of Texas in the late 1890s. The land is flat, the air is thick, and somebody has got to build something out of nothing.

That somebody was G. W. Kilsdonk, Jr., a Dutch immigrant who came over from Holland and got himself a job as agent for the Port Arthur Land Company.

His assignment, as best we can reckon it, was to turn raw coastal territory into a real, breathing community. And Kilsdonk, he took that seriously. He got to work encouraging people from his native Holland to come on over and settle in this area.

He was recruiting his own people, calling them across an ocean to plant roots in Southeast Texas. Now that takes a certain kind of confidence in a place. He built a number of businesses to serve this developing community, and right here at this very site, he put up a two-story mercantile store.

Two stories. Out here. That was a statement.

That building wasn't just a place to buy your dry goods and your tools, though it was certainly that, a full supply center for folks who needed everything. It was also where the community gathered. Organizations met there.

Businesses conducted their affairs there. Churches found a home in those walls. Social groups came together under that roof.

For a brand new settlement still finding its footing, that building was the heartbeat of the place. Then came 1909. The original Mercantile building was destroyed by fire.

Just like that, the structure that had anchored this community, that had welcomed so many different people through its doors, was gone. But the story of what it meant, of a Dutch immigrant who believed enough to build it in the first place, well, that one's still standing.

What the marker says

As agent for the Port Arthur Land Company, Dutch immigrant G. W. Kilsdonk, Jr., worked to encourage people from his native Holland to settle in this area in the late 1890s. He built a number of businesses to serve the developing community, including a two-story mercantile store at this site. In addition to its function as a supply center, the Mercantile building also served as a community gathering place and meeting hall for many organizations, businesses, churches, and social groups. The original Mercantile building was destroyed by fire n 1909.