The Cathey Buildings

Duane's take

Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Cathey Buildings in Quitman, Wood County, Texas. Now settle in, because this one's got fire, rebuilding, and a man who wore just about every hat a Texas town could hand him. Benjamin Franklin Cathey.

Attorney, representative in the Texas Legislature, public official. The kind of man who, when he looked at the north side of the public square in Quitman, didn't just see empty lots. He saw possibility.

He purchased several of those lots from Thomas Stephens, and by 1922, he had built several commercial brick buildings right there on the square. We're talking a post office, a mercantile. The Pastime Theatre was in that same block.

The local newspaper and printing house too. That stretch of the square was alive. Then 1932 arrived, and fire destroyed three of the Cathey Buildings.

Just like that, a significant piece of what Cathey had built was gone. But here's the thing about a block that matters to a community. People come back to it.

A new law office was the first to be rebuilt. Then the post office rose again. The last of the three destroyed buildings took the longest, but it came back too, rebuilt in 1941, and when it did, it contained four separate spaces.

Four doors where there had been ruin. The Cathey Buildings, the marker tells us, represent the growth of the commercial district in Quitman in the twentieth century. And I'd say they represent something else too.

What a town does after the fire. It rebuilds. Every time.

What the marker says

THE CATHEY BUILDINGS ATTORNEY, REPRESENTATIVE IN THE TEXAS LEGISLATURE AND PUBLIC OFFICIAL BENJAMIN FRANKLIN CATHEY PURCHASED SEVERAL LOTS FROM THOMAS STEPHENS LOCATED ON THE NORTH SIDE OF THE PUBLIC SQUARE. BY 1922, CATHEY BUILT SEVERAL COMMERCIAL BRICK BUILDINGS ON THE SQUARE INCLUDING A POST OFFICE AND A MERCANTILE. THE PASTIME THEATRE AND THE LOCAL NEWSPAPER AND PRINTING HOUSE WERE LOCATED IN THE SAME BLOCK. FIRE DESTROYED THREE OF THE CATHEY BUILDINGS IN 1932. A NEW LAW OFFICE WAS THE FIRST TO BE REBUILT FOLLOWED BY THE POST OFFICE. THE LAST BUILDING DESTROYED WAS REBUILT IN 1941 AND CONTAINED FOUR SEPARATE SPACES. THE CATHEY BUILDINGS REPRESENT THE GROWTH OF THE COMMERCIAL DISTRICT IN QUITMAN IN THE 20TH CENTURY. RECORDED TEXAS HISTORIC LANDMARK - 2012