Higginbotham Brothers and Company
Cross Plains, Callahan County, Texas
Marker Inscription
HIGGINBOTHAM BROTHERS AND COMPANY This location of the Higginbotham brothers and Co. was opened on Nov. 20, 1914 by brothers Rufus Wilson, Joseph Martin, and Bolivar Taylor, Jr. Original glass counters, cabinets, mirrors, stairways, floors and tin ceiling are still in use today. The first in the chain of general stores was opened in 1881 in de Leon by Joseph, Bolivar and brother-in-law Jeff Bartlett. Soon, combinations of brothers, relatives and friends opened other locations serving all aspects of customer needs, including undertaking. The funeral parlor was located on the north side of the cross plains store before being relocated. Today there are 34 Texas store locations which have served for 130 years. (2014)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
The Higginbotham brothers opened their first general store in De Leon in 1881, and over the following decades combinations of brothers, in-laws, and friends spread the name across Texas, selling everything a town needed — right down to undertaking. This Cross Plains store opened in 1914 and still keeps its original glass counters, cabinets, mirrors, tin ceiling, and floors in use. A century on, the company counted dozens of Texas locations, a rare survivor of the old-fashioned mercantile chain.
Why it matters
It preserves the world of the small-town general store — the retail hub that supplied and connected rural Texas before highways and national chains — remarkably intact.
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Related people
- · Rufus Wilson Higginbotham
- · Joseph Martin Higginbotham
- · Bolivar Taylor Higginbotham Jr.
Themes & tags
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