Sherley, A. & Bro. Hardware Store
Anna, Collin County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Lewis and Paulina Sherley moved to north Texas from Kentucky about 1853. When the town of Anna was established in 1872, their grandsons, brothers Andrew and Fred Sherley, opened a hardware store. In 1894 they built this structure to house the business. It remained in the family after the store closed in 1979. Over time they were undertakers as well as purveyors of furniture, farming implements and machinery, wagons, cotton, grain and groceries. Wagon-weighing scales in front of the building were removed when the road was widened. The structure is a fine example of an early Texas commercial building, retaining the original canopy and painted signs. Minimal Victorian-era detailing includes corbelled brickwork in the parapet and paneled kickplates on storefront display windows.Recorded Texas Historic Landmark-1999
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
When the town of Anna sprang up along the railroad in 1872, brothers Andrew and Fred Sherley—grandsons of Kentucky migrants—opened a hardware store, and in 1894 raised this brick building to house it. Over the decades the Sherleys sold furniture, farm implements, wagons, cotton and groceries and even served as undertakers, the wagon scales out front weighing the harvests of a farming county until the store closed in 1979.
Why it matters
The building is a well-preserved example of the general-purpose commercial houses that anchored the main streets of railroad-era Texas farm towns.
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Related people
- · Andrew Sherley
- · Fred Sherley
Themes & tags
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