Croley Funeral Home
Gilmer, Upshur County, Texas
Marker Inscription
J. F. Croley purchased the Croley Hardware Company in 1890 and began an undertaking business as part of the hardware store services. In 1920 a partnership was formed to run the business, and in 1933 the Croley Burial Association was formed. Croley Cook, nephew of J. F. Croley, built a new funeral home in 1946-47. The structure included a chapel with a seating capacity for 200 people. In 1979 a larger chapel was built, and the facilities were renovated. The company continues to serve the community. (1997)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
J. F. Croley bought the Croley Hardware Company in Gilmer in 1890 and, as many general merchants of the era did, added an undertaking service to the store's offerings. The enterprise grew into a partnership by 1920 and a burial association by 1933, and Croley's nephew Croley Cook built a dedicated funeral home with a 200-seat chapel in 1946-47. An expanded chapel followed in 1979.
Why it matters
The evolution of a hardware store into a funeral home captures how small-town Texas businesses provided cradle-to-grave services and anchored community life for generations.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · J. F. Croley
- · Croley Cook
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Leather Factories, C. S. A.
Gilmer, TX
During the Civil War this East Texas site hummed with the unglamorous but vital work of keeping an army moving. A shoe factory turned local leather into footgear for Confederate soldiers, while a nearby harness shop produced the bridles, saddles, and rigging that hitched horses and mules to gun carriages, wagons, and ambulances. Fed by a tanyard that processed over 2,000 hides a year, East Texas plants supplied the South hundreds of saddles and harness sets each month.
"The Gilmer Mirror"
Gilmer, TX
Launched on New Year's Day 1877 as the Upshur County Democrat, this weekly paper grew into the county's oldest continuous business. Renamed the Texas Mirror in 1882 and the Gilmer Mirror in 1895, it passed to the family of veteran newspaperman George Tucker in 1915 and remarkably sustained a daily edition from 1916 to 1944 in so small a town. The firm built its own home here in 1941.
Warren-Futrell House
Gilmer, TX
Built in 1912 for Gilmer civic leaders Daisie Lee and James R. Warren, this house reflects the Prairie School and Arts and Crafts sensibilities then reshaping American design, with overhanging eaves, exposed rafter ends, and short Ionic porch columns. It passed through several owners before the Futrell family, who held it from 1934 until 1989. Its careful detailing makes it a landmark of Gilmer's early-20th-century architectural history.
C. S. A. Hat Factory
Gilmer, TX
Cut off from Northern and European factories by the Union blockade, the Confederacy had to clothe its armies from scratch — and here in Gilmer, the Potts brothers turned local wool into some 600 hats a year for Confederate soldiers. They were part of a vast improvised war economy: Texas factories turned out overcoats, blankets, shoes, and caps, while housewives carded wool, spun cloth, and knitted socks at home. Even the state penitentiary wove 130,000 yards of cloth a month.