Site of Thornton's Store
Abilene, Taylor County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Known throughout West Texas as "A city within itself," Thornton's Store was one of Abilene's leading businesses for nearly seven decades. E. L. Thornton (1896-1964) moved to Abilene from Arkansas in 1919, after service in World War I. He opened a fruit stand in 1919, followed by a grocery store in 1920. Joined by his two brothers, Thornton soon expanded his business. In 1925 he added dry goods, followed by a drug store and feed store in 1929. Radio and refrigeration departments were added in 1931. By 1937 Thornton's filled an entire block of Oak Street, adding a cafe, a beauty shop, and shoe department. In 1941 a franchise for selling new Studebaker cars was added. The one-story properties were renovated in 1947 into a four-story structure of more than 100,000 square feet. Thornton's was famous for its Christmas displays. In 1959 the largest fire in Abilene's history gutted the Thornton property. Reconstruction began at once. After the deaths of E. L. Thornton in 1964 and his son Charles Eugene Thornton in 1965, surviving family members sold their interests to a chain store based in St. Louis. Thornton's continued in business under new ownership until 1985. (1996)
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Known across West Texas as "a city within itself," Thornton's Store grew from a 1919 fruit stand opened by World War I veteran E. L. Thornton into one of Abilene's leading businesses for nearly seven decades. With his brothers he added groceries, dry goods, a drugstore, radio and refrigeration departments, a cafe, and even a Studebaker franchise, until by 1937 the store filled an entire block of Oak Street. Famous for its Christmas displays, it was gutted by Abilene's largest fire in 1959, rebuilt at once, and stayed in business under new owners until 1985.
Why it matters
Sprawling family department stores like Thornton's were the commercial and social heart of mid-20th-century American towns, before shopping malls and chains reshaped Main Street.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · E. L. Thornton
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
The Texas & Pacific Railway: First Railroad Across West Texas
Abilene, TX
Chartered by Congress in 1871 to reach the Pacific, the Texas & Pacific Railway pushed across West Texas in 1880 under railroad magnate Thomas A. Scott and engineer Grenville M. Dodge, the veteran builder of the Union Pacific. The first train reached Abilene in January 1881, and a station—housed at first in a boxcar—opened weeks later. To seed a town, railway agents auctioned 178 lots in March 1881 for over $27,000, launching what grew into the commercial center of central West Texas.
Abilene Reporter-News
Abilene, TX
Abilene's oldest business institution began just three months after the town was founded, when C. E. Gilbert printed its first newspaper on June 17, 1881. When fire soon destroyed his office, Gilbert rode the train to Baird, borrowed a press, and rushed out an 'extra' about the blaze—one of many colorful episodes, including a duel between rival editors that both survived. Through mergers the paper became the Reporter-News, and publisher Marshall Hanks later joined Houston Harte to form the national Harte-Hanks communications firm.
Hotel Wooten
Abilene, TX
When the Hotel Wooten opened in June 1930 to a crowd of more than two thousand, entrepreneur H.O. Wooten had delivered on his promise of New York–caliber lodging for West Texas. Rising seventeen stories, it was the tallest building between Fort Worth and El Paso, clad in buff brick with cast stone, marble, and granite detailing by Abilene architect David S. Castle. It endures as one of the city's finest examples of Art Deco design.
Site of Guitar Mansion
Abilene, TX
John and Laura Hudson Guitar came to Abilene from Missouri in 1898, already wealthy from a chain of cotton gins and oil mills strung along the Texas & Pacific Railroad, along with ranching and real-estate interests. In 1910 they completed a grand $75,000 mission-style mansion here — five bedrooms, marble and stained glass, and novelties like intercoms, security lights, and a bowling alley with an early pin setter — where they raised eight children as a showplace of Abilene society. Left vacant after Laura's death in 1948, the deteriorating house was razed by the family's heirs in 1964, its ornamental stone griffin preserved in local collections.