W. E. Mayes Property
Crockett, Houston County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Alabama native William Elbert "Buck" Mayes (1836-1915) came to this area in 1856. After serving in the Civil War, he returned home to Houston County and became a successful businessman with interests in banking, real estate, construction and retail sales. By April 1893, he owned the three commercial structures at this site (509-513 E. Goliad). The buildings became an important part of Crockett's business community, providing space for such operations as a newpaper and theater. The site now serves as a reminder of Mayes' many contributions to the growth of the city.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
An Alabama native who came to Houston County in 1856, William Elbert "Buck" Mayes returned from Civil War service to build a wide-ranging business empire in banking, real estate, construction, and retail. By 1893 he owned the three commercial buildings on this corner of East Goliad Street, which housed such enterprises as a newspaper and a theater. For decades the site anchored Crockett's downtown commercial life.
Why it matters
Mayes exemplifies the Southern veterans who rebuilt their fortunes as small-town entrepreneurs during Reconstruction, knitting together the commercial fabric of rural Texas.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · William Elbert "Buck" Mayes
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Early Bank Building
Crockett, TX
This late-19th-century commercial building, with its cast-iron front and pressed-tin ornament, was built in 1893-94 for a bank that grew out of merchant W. E. Mayes's store. In the 1880s Mayes had begun handling cash, loans, and credit for his customers, and in 1891 he sold the business to the First National Bank of Crockett, which he helped organize. The building later served an abstractor after 1954.
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.
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.
Site of R. E. McConnell Property
Crockett, TX
John McConnell emigrated from Ireland to Crockett in 1847 and opened a blacksmith shop on this spot before expanding, with his sons, into the hardware business. An active civic leader, he served as county treasurer and city alderman. His son Robert Emmett McConnell built a home here in 1901 and carried on both the family enterprise and its public service, leading on the city council during a period of rapid growth for Crockett.