HistoricSiteMarkers
Reconstruction & Gilded Age

Glenn Brothers Building

Granbury, Hood County, Texas

Marker Inscription

Erected in 1885 by town builder James Farr, an attorney; bought in 1888 by the Glenn Brothers--Clark B., Dan, John L., and James M. Civic leaders interested in many businesses besides their family grocery housed in this structure. After a fire in this store and the three to the west, contractors Elliott and Halsley made extensive repairs (1891), using heavy timbers clad in iron to support brick veneer front of upper story, with its handsome victorian styling.

Erected by Texas Historical Commission

The Story

Attorney and town builder James Farr raised this store in 1885, and by 1888 it belonged to the four Glenn brothers, civic leaders who ran the family grocery here. After an 1891 fire swept the block, contractors rebuilt with heavy iron-clad timbers supporting a handsome Victorian brick front—an example of the sturdy commercial architecture that lined a booming Texas courthouse square.

Why it matters

Main Street buildings like this preserve the entrepreneurial texture of Gilded Age Texas towns, where merchant families doubled as community leaders.

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Related people

  • · James Farr
  • · Clark B. Glenn
  • · Dan Glenn
  • · John L. Glenn
  • · James M. Glenn

Themes & tags

Nearby & related markers

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Aston-Landers Building

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Andy Aston and George Landers erected this native-stone building with a patented iron front as a saloon in 1893, and it saw its share of frontier drama, including a 1901 duel that wounded a bystander on the square. When temperance crusader Carrie Nation visited Granbury in 1905, sentiment was shifting, and voters outlawed liquor the next year. Aston then turned the space into a buggy and harness shop staffed by skilled leather craftsmen, and it later held many other businesses.

The Fair

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Andy Aston built this Granbury square building in 1888 as a harness and saddle-making shop, and decorative ironwork was added during a 1906 remodeling while George Landers held a share of the business. After the harness trade moved out around 1908, a parade of retailers filled the space—Joe Kerr's grocery, several dry-goods firms, and the store that gave the building its name, "The Fair." Among the neighboring merchants was one nicknamed "Blue-Front Riley" for the painted facade of his earlier shop.

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