Baker-Rylee Building and Town Square Service Station
Granbury, Hood County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This cut limestone structure was built in 1895 to house the hardware operation of D.O. Baker and J.D. Rylee. The following year, Baker's brother Jess joined the partnership, and in 1898 the store became the Baker Hardware Company. When the Transcontinental Oil Company purchased the building in 1929, two walls were removed to provide automobile access for the sale of gasoline. A landmark on the square, the building reflects Granbury's early commercial growth.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Built of cut limestone in 1895, this building housed the hardware business of D.O. Baker and J.D. Rylee on the Granbury square, growing into the Baker Hardware Company by the turn of the century. In 1929 the automobile age remade it literally: the Transcontinental Oil Company knocked out two walls so cars could pull in for gasoline. The transformation from hardware store to service station is written right into the structure.
Why it matters
This one building embodies the shift from horse-and-wagon commerce to the automobile economy, a change that reshaped Main Streets across America in the early twentieth century.
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Related people
- · D.O. Baker
- · J.D. Rylee
Themes & tags
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