Patton-Buchanan Building
Crockett, Houston County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Crockett merchant William Monroe Patton (1855-1915) built this commercial structure about 1903. It was the fourth of six buildings he constructed on what became known as the Patton Block and is the only one that retains its original Mesker Bros. pressed metal storefront. In 1926 Wade Hampton Buchanan (1894-1978), a Crockett mechanic and businessman, bought the building and leased it until 1976 to a variety of local businesses. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1982
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
At the turn of the 20th century, Crockett was a growing East Texas county seat where merchants raised whole blocks of brick storefronts. Around 1903 local businessman William Monroe Patton added this building to a row of six he erected, and it alone still wears its original Mesker Bros. pressed-metal facade—a mail-order architectural flourish popular across small-town America. A generation later mechanic Wade Buchanan bought it and leased its street-level space to a parade of local enterprises for half a century.
Why it matters
Mesker storefronts like this one document how mass-produced ironwork let ordinary Main Street merchants dress their buildings in big-city style, shaping the look of thousands of American downtowns.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · William Monroe Patton
- · Wade Hampton Buchanan
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
W.V. McConnell Building
Crockett, TX
Crockett native William Van McConnell built this Victorian commercial building soon after buying the site in 1891 from a former mayor. Known for his wit and his Irish stories, he opened a mercantile store that grew into a business lasting until 1973. For generations the McConnell Building stood as a familiar landmark on the town square.
Houston County Courthouse
Crockett, TX
When Houston County needed a new courthouse in the late 1930s, its leaders turned to federal Public Works Administration funds to build one in 1939. Designed by a county native and raised by a Dallas contractor, the building wore the sleek Moderne lines and Art Deco detail that were the height of Depression-era fashion. It has remained the seat of county government ever since.
First National Bank of Crockett
Crockett, TX
Frontier banking often began informally, and so it did in Crockett: merchant W.E. Mayes kept customers' cash in his store safe and extended loans and credit as early as the 1880s. In 1892 H.F. Moore arrived from Galveston to charter the First National Bank, and Mayes moved his deposits into it. Through a later merger and a long line of presidents, the bank became a fixture of the East Texas town's commercial life.
Miller-Spinks-Mayes Property
Crockett, TX
This corner of the Crockett town square began as a law office after judge and state legislator S.A. Miller bought it in 1840. In 1891 Rudd Crawford Spinks put up a two-story brick building for his jewelry store, living above the shop, and merchant-banker W.E. "Buck" Mayes acquired it in 1895. Though much altered over the years, the property remained a working part of the town's commercial center.