DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, as best as Duane can pass it along. Way back in 1837, a surveyor named James H. Collard opened a general store right here on this very site.
Now a surveyor running a general store — that's not as unusual as it sounds out on the Texas frontier, where a man did what needed doing. Four years later, Collard sold the business to Thomas Collins, who lived from 1800 to 1869. The Collins family kept that store humming along, generation to generation, all the way until 1890.
That's a good long run for any business in any era. Then along comes William Berry — born in 1856 — who constructed the Pickwick Hotel right here on that same ground. The name changed, the walls went up, and the corner took on a new identity.
Then in 1921, two brothers by the names of F.A. and J.H. Smith bought the building. They let it sit with that potential for a few years, and then in 1927 they reopened it as the Davy Crockett Hotel.
That name carried some weight in a county called Houston, Texas, I'll tell you that much. The hotel kept its doors open through good times and harder ones. When the county needed to build a new courthouse — that was 1938 into 1939 — the Crockett Hotel stepped up and housed county offices during the whole construction stretch.
The Crockett Hotel Co. purchased the business in 1939, right as that courthouse work was wrapping up. Ray and Alta Cornelius came on as managers and kept the place going. And then, in 1972, a fire destroyed it.
Just like that, more than a century of commerce on this corner — from Collard's general store to the Crockett Hotel — gone. Some corners hold more history than they let on.
What the marker says
James H. Collard, a surveyor, opened a general store on this site in 1837. Four years later he sold the business to Thomas Collins (1800-1869). Members of the Collins family ran the store until 1890 when William Berry (b.1856) constructed the Pickwick Hotel. Two brothers, F.A. and J.H. Smith, bought the building in 1921. It was reopened as the Davy Crockett Hotel in 1927. During construction of a new courthouse (1938-39), it housed county offices. The Crockett Hotel Co. purchased the business in 1939. Ray and Alta Cornelius served as managers until a fire destroyed it in 1972. (1980)