Mathews General Store
Plano, Collin County, Texas
Marker Inscription
This was one of several brick buildings erected on Mechanic Street after an October 1895 fire. S. J. And Nancy Mathews came to Plano in 1893 and opened a store across the street before relocating here in 1906. Mathews Department Store sold dry goods and clothing, including millinery made by Nancy and her daughters, until 1947. The building continued as a department store and then other businesses. The façade features running bond and corbelled brick, transom and storefront windows, and columns and base plates from Sherman Iron Works. It is one of Plano’s few 19th-century stores in continuous commercial operation.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
After an 1895 fire, Plano rebuilt its Mechanic Street in brick, and S. J. and Nancy Mathews relocated their store into one of these new buildings in 1906. Mathews Department Store sold dry goods, clothing, and millinery handmade by Nancy and her daughters until 1947, after which the building carried on as a department store and other businesses. Its detailed brick façade, transom windows, and ironwork from Sherman Iron Works survive as one of Plano's few nineteenth-century stores in continuous commercial use.
Why it matters
The store preserves the fabric of a small-town Main Street commercial district and the family enterprise—including women's millinery work—that clothed and supplied a growing North Texas town.
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Related people
- · S. J. Mathews
- · Nancy Mathews
Themes & tags
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