DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about this spot — and friend, it's quite a story. Now, West Texas has never been short on characters who showed up with nothing and built something worth talking about. E.
L. Thornton was exactly that kind of man. Born in 1896, he came to Abilene from Arkansas in 1919 — fresh off his service in World War I — and he got to work.
That same year, 1919, he opened a fruit stand. Just a fruit stand. You might smile at that.
Don't smile too long. Because in 1920 that fruit stand became a grocery store. And then his two brothers joined him, and things started moving.
By 1925, Thornton had added dry goods to the operation. By 1929, a drug store and a feed store. Nineteen thirty-one brought radio and refrigeration departments under the same roof.
Radio and refrigeration, right there together — now that tells you something about the man's instinct for what people wanted next. By 1937, Thornton's filled an entire city block on Oak Street. A café.
A beauty shop. A shoe department. One block.
And the people of West Texas had a name for it by then — they called it a city within itself. In 1941 came a franchise for selling new Studebaker cars, because apparently a city within itself needed a dealership. Then in 1947, those one-story properties were renovated — remade into a four-story structure of more than one hundred thousand square feet.
Let that land for a second. A fruit stand, to a hundred thousand square feet. And every Christmas, the displays Thornton's put on were famous clear across the region.
Then comes 1959. The largest fire in Abilene's history gutted the Thornton property. Not nicked it.
Not damaged a wing. Gutted it. And reconstruction began at once.
That detail — at once — says about everything you need to know about the Thornton spirit. But the years that followed were heavy ones. E.
L. Thornton died in 1964. His son Charles Eugene Thornton died in 1965.
After those two losses in two consecutive years, the surviving family members sold their interests to a chain store based in St. Louis. Thornton's carried on under new ownership for a while longer, nearly seven decades after that first fruit stand opened, until the doors finally closed in 1985.
A city within itself — built from a fruit stand, survived a fire, and outlasted nearly everyone who built it. That's an Abilene story if there ever was one.
What the marker says
Known throughout West Texas as "A city within itself," Thornton's Store was one of Abilene's leading businesses for nearly seven decades. E. L. Thornton (1896-1964) moved to Abilene from Arkansas in 1919, after service in World War I. He opened a fruit stand in 1919, followed by a grocery store in 1920. Joined by his two brothers, Thornton soon expanded his business. In 1925 he added dry goods, followed by a drug store and feed store in 1929. Radio and refrigeration departments were added in 1931. By 1937 Thornton's filled an entire block of Oak Street, adding a cafe, a beauty shop, and shoe department. In 1941 a franchise for selling new Studebaker cars was added. The one-story properties were renovated in 1947 into a four-story structure of more than 100,000 square feet. Thornton's was famous for its Christmas displays. In 1959 the largest fire in Abilene's history gutted the Thornton property. Reconstruction began at once. After the deaths of E. L. Thornton in 1964 and his son Charles Eugene Thornton in 1965, surviving family members sold their interests to a chain store based in St. Louis. Thornton's continued in business under new ownership until 1985. (1996)