Wilson Mercantile Company
Wilson, Lynn County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Founded 1910 by William Green, son of a family who settled in South Texas more than a century ago. The townsite was part of four leagues of Wilson County school lands bought 1906 by Green and Associates. Green later bought out his associates, and shortly thereafter he and Lonnie Lumsden acquired over 50 sections of the old Dixie Ranch in the north part of Lynn County. Their ranching headquarters were a mile east of here. Green introduced farming on the school lands, bringing in settlers (many from his home county, Lavaca)-- some as purchasers, some as tenants. The community was called Wilson, for the original tract, and indirectly for Rev. J. C. Wilson, State Senator for whom Wilson County was named. The town was founded 1911, after Green influenced Panhandle & Santa Fe Railway to put its line here. Green's original frame mercantile store, nucleus for the town, was replaced in 1917 by this building. In 1963 Wilson Mercantile was restored by Mrs. William Dickson Green, daughter-in-law of founder; her work has made the building a repository for items authentic to the period when the Greens came to Texas as well as to the era when town of Wilson was established and the store was founded. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1967
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
William Green founded the Wilson Mercantile in 1910 on West Texas school lands he and his associates had bought a few years earlier, then drew the Panhandle and Santa Fe Railway to the spot and watched a town grow around his store. He brought in farmers and tenants, many from his home county, and ran vast ranch holdings nearby. His original frame store gave way to this 1917 building, later restored by his daughter-in-law into a repository of the pioneering era.
Why it matters
The store shows how a single entrepreneur could seed a whole community, joining ranching, farming, railroads, and commerce into a new prairie town.
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Related people
- · William Green
- · Lonnie Lumsden
- · J. C. Wilson
Themes & tags
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