Oddly, there's not much of Jack McCarty's regular column, "In the Sands of Somervell", to be found online: It might be behind a paywall for all we know, so in order to read this old article, you need to visit the physical location, which is now a boutique. The marker was placed by the Somervell County Historical Commission and the Glen Rose-Somervell County Chamber of Commerce, with its subject being the old store that really was something special here on the square for so many years. A sidebar to the sign is an article from the
Glen Rose Reporter by Jack McCarty on August 3, 1967:
Happiness is a kid with a few pennies shopping the penny candy counter at Don Hill's store here!
Have you ever taken a child into Don's and watched while he or she made the momentous decisions of choosing the number and kind of various candies in the glass-fronted candy cases? If you haven't or have never been present to see the face of a child thus engaged, you have missed one of the truly happy moments of life.
The numerous glass bins filled to overflowing with candies of all descriptions make choice of the average child a real problem and a joyous occasion.
If you do not have a small fry of your own, just pick a little tyke on the sidewalk and take him or her into Don's armed with five to ten pennies and watch. You will experience a real joy, believe-you-me.
The rest of the sign provides some overlapping background:
Don Hill's Store
What did Glen Rose do before Walmart? They went to Don Hill's! If he didn't have what you needed, he would get it for you.
Many a Somervell County native child who ever visited Hill's Variety Store through the years came away with an indelible memory of the fascinating array of candies, toys, and novelties, a miniature Walmart of modern times.
Besides the mentioned candy, the Hills stocked toys -- some that became a little shopworn from wee hands that held no money. It would be safe to say that these toys were the only ones some children had to play with, even for a few minutes. Don and his wife Vivian displayed extraordinary patience to let children investigate before they turned loose of their coins. Mrs. Hill tutored many a child on how to count their money.
Even several generations of adults came to Don Hill's Store to look for dishes, cookware, hardware, garden implements or face powder or novelty items. If you couldn't find what you wanted elsewhere, you could go to Hill's, for what inventory he didn't sell he kept.
Don and Vivian Hill bought the business from his sister, Lillie Hill Campbell. Their father, C.W. Hill, built the store after a fire destroyed the former building. The Hills operated this business for 49 years from the 1930's.
[Somervell County Historical Commission; Glen Rose-Somervell County Chamber of Commerce]