Site of the Crockett Hotel
Crockett, Houston County, Texas
Marker Inscription
James H. Collard, a surveyor, opened a general store on this site in 1837. Four years later he sold the business to Thomas Collins (1800-1869). Members of the Collins family ran the store until 1890 when William Berry (b.1856) constructed the Pickwick Hotel. Two brothers, F.A. and J.H. Smith, bought the building in 1921. It was reopened as the Davy Crockett Hotel in 1927. During construction of a new courthouse (1938-39), it housed county offices. The Crockett Hotel Co. purchased the business in 1939. Ray and Alta Cornelius served as managers until a fire destroyed it in 1972. (1980)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
This corner of Crockett has hosted commerce since 1837, when surveyor James H. Collard opened a general store here. The Collins family kept a store on the spot for decades until 1890, when the Pickwick Hotel rose in its place. Rechristened for frontier hero Davy Crockett in 1927, the hotel even housed county offices during a courthouse rebuild before fire finally destroyed it in 1972.
Why it matters
A single downtown lot's evolution from frontier store to landmark hotel traces the commercial heartbeat of an East Texas county seat across more than a century.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · James H. Collard
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Crockett
Crockett, TX
Founded in 1837 and named for David Crockett, who had passed through on his way to the Alamo the year before, Crockett grew into a hub of the young Republic of Texas frontier. Its fortified log courthouse sheltered settlers during conflicts with Native peoples, and by the Civil War the town hosted a camp of instruction. As a telegraph and stagecoach station, it tied the surrounding farming and timber country into the wider South.
Five Courthouses of Houston County
Crockett, TX
In 1837 President Sam Houston authorized Houston County, the very first county created by the young Republic of Texas, and veterans of the Battle of San Jacinto named it for their commander and its seat for their Tennessee friend David Crockett. The first courthouse here was a log fortress against Indian raids, and a remarkable run of fire and misfortune destroyed courthouse after courthouse across the next century. Five successive buildings tell the story of a frontier county seat repeatedly rebuilding itself.
Andrew Edwards Gossett
Crockett, TX
Andrew Edwards Gossett (1812–1890) donated the townsite that became Crockett, the seat of Houston County, which was carved from Nacogdoches territory in 1837. Giving land from his own colonist's grant, he provided the young Republic of Texas county a central place to conduct its government. His gift literally put the town on the map.
First Methodist Church
Crockett, TX
Formed in 1839 with Henderson Palmer as pastor and the noted minister Littleton Fowler presiding, this is Crockett's first congregation and among the oldest in Texas. Methodists shared space with other denominations until building their own frame sanctuary here in 1864; the present brick church, raised in 1901–1902 from brick fired on site, remains the oldest house of worship in the city.