These ghost signs are for a well-known long-lived McKinney hardware store that operated from 1877 well into the 20th century.
Blasterz found many articles stating that Dowell's hardware store was the first store in McKinney: (
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"McKinney, Texas
A Local History
Collaborative Project
by
Third Grade Curriculum Team
McKinney ISD
[page 9]
Dowell, J.P. The first store in McKinney was located on Louisiana Street east of the square and owned by J.P. Dowell. Dowell Hardware sold china dishes, furniture, and other interesting things."
From the industry publication The Iron Age we find this mention of Dowell's store in the Vol 57, 9 Jan 1896 edition, on page 165: (
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"A recent issue of the MCKINNEY TRADE REVIEW contains an article of the Hardware business conducted by J. P. Dowell of McKinney, Texas. Reference is made to the energy and industriousness of the proprietor and the completeness of his Stock of Hardware, Stoves, Cutlery, &c. Mr. Dowell's store is a three-story brick building 50 x 100 feet in dimensions, Mr. Dowell has been in McKinney since 1856 and in business there since 1869."
According to the handbook of Texas Online, J. P. Dowell was also a director of the Louisiana Arkansas and Texas Railroad: (
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"LOUISIANA, ARKANSAS AND TEXAS RAILWAY.
The Louisiana, Arkansas and Texas Railway Company was chartered on March 27, 1923, as the Louisiana Railway and Navigation Company of Texas; its name was changed on April 14, 1930. Early directors included H. C. Couch of Pine Bluff, Arkansas; C. P. Couch of Shreveport, Louisiana; Louis Tobian of Dallas; J. P. Dowell of McKinney, Texas; T. J. Taylor, Jr., of Jefferson; J. J. Bond of Ft. Worth; Pat Neff of Waco; and John D. Middleton of Greenville.
The main office was in Greenville. In 1929 the Louisiana and Arkansas Railway acquired and leased the Louisiana Railway and Navigation Company and gained control of the Louisiana Railway and Navigation Company of Texas. The line in Texas was renamed to reflect the change in control.
The LA&T operated a 181 mile line from McKinney to the Texas-Louisiana state line near Waskom. On July 15, 1932, the line began service between Greenville and Dallas via trackage rights over the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad Company of Texas. Effective October 17, 1937, the Dallas entry was changed to the Gulf, Colorado and Santa Fe Railway Company from Farmersville.
In 1933 the company owned fifteen locomotives, 160 freight cars, eleven passenger cars, and fifty-five company service cars. Earnings that year were $3,567 from passengers, $763,054 from freight, and $73,788 in other revenue. The LA&T was merged into the Louisiana and Arkansas on July 1, 1939."
From the McKinney TX website we dug up a few more scraps of info and an old photo from around the turn of the century: (
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Dowell Hardware
208 East Louisiana St.
Dowell Hardware
This building housed the Dowell Hardware and Furniture Store, founded in 1877. In 1922, the store was remodeled and is now a rare and excellent example of a Commercial-Style building using three-part, Chicago-style windows.
An interesting fact is that the store sold “Queensware,” a pottery invented by Josiah Wedgwood that brought exotic Chinese and Japanese porcelain styles to McKinney. Probably unknown to anyone in McKinney was the fact that Wedgwood was a member of the "Lunar Society" which met during the full moon in England. Members of the Lunar Society included such notables as Mathew Boulton and James Watt, inventors of the steam engine, Erasmus Darwin, father of Charles Darwin, who married Josiah Wedgwood’s granddaughter Emma. Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and Antoine Lavoisier were distant members through correspondence.
This three-story brick building, built in 1888, once sold everything from hardware to animal feed to clothing. MYCON, a local construction company, purchased the building and rehabilitated it from 1998-1999. MYCON spent eight months rehabilitating the upper floors into offices while the first floor was kept as-is and leased as retail space. Today the first floor is home to Morningstar Treasures."
Despite all the info on Dowell on the web, we could not find out when his hardware store closed. We did find that his building sold in 1999, at which time all the old ledgers were still in it: (
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[page 5]
THE MAKING OF MYCON
According to Myers, MYCON’s first decade proved to be a real learning experience. “I had a degree in construction, but that doesn’t prepare you for running a business,” he says. “The first several years were devoted to just understanding how this business works, such as all the relationships that needed to be formed with bonding and insurance companies and bankers. Then, there was the staffing and creation of a team that believed in the same ideals as I did.”
But MYCON learned those lessons well, and by 1999 it had grown large enough to need larger headquarters. The company purchased the historic J.P. Dowell hardware store in downtown McKinney, Texas, and moved operations there. The three-story brick building, built in 1888, once sold everything from hardware to animal feed to clothing.
MYCON spent eight months and approximately $750,000 making
necessary modifications to bring the building up to code in terms of mechanical and electrical systems, while preserving its original look. The interior features the original bare brick walls, unfinished wood floors, and Chicago-type windows, which have a central fixed pane with smaller double windows on either side.
The first floor also contains the original fixtures from its general store days, including a safe and teller drawers used by the store’s bookkeepers. MYCON even has Dowell’s old ledgers. “I felt a hardware store was kind of a fitting headquarters for a construction company,” Myers says. “And the style of architecture in historic downtown McKinney is special. It’s kind of like working in Mayberry.
It is a real comfortable place that works well with our clients. It is always a big hit.”