by Jerry Flook, Garland Historian
Published in the Garland-Rowlett Messenger, September 2010
Today the north side of Garland’s Historic Square clearly offers contrasting examples of sensitive historic preservation and total neglect. Its history, however, is as interesting as that of the other three sides of the Square.
The first business houses built on this block (the first two brick buildings from the left in the 1912 photo) were built at the corner of State and Sixth streets, now the location of the Plaza Theater. Evidence suggests that they may have pre-dated the Fire of 1899. Known as the Coldwell Buildings, they were occupied early on by Curfman & Allen General Merchandise, later by Gandy General Merchandise, White & Ward Automobiles and Implements and Bane & Ogle Grocery. Both buildings were severely damaged in 1918 by a fire which threatened to destroy the whole business row. A new building was immediately erected on the site and was occupied by the Hudson, Davis & Co. Dry Goods store for several years. The Plaza Theater was built on the site in 1941, its current facade dating from 1950. It was acquired by the City of Garland and renovated in the 1990s.
The next three buildings in the row (with the tallest parapets in the photo) were erected in 1900 for John T. Jones, E. C. Newton, and Mrs. S. J. Murphree, respectively. Signage in the 1912 photo indicated that H. W. Jones Hardware, Furniture, and Undertaking was occupying the Jones and Newton buildings at that time. Jones discontinued undertaking when M. D. Williams across the Square decided to concentrate on that business. In 1917 Jones purchased the next building in the row, which at the time housed the Lyric Theater, Garland’s first movie house. The fire that damaged the Coldwell Building in 1918 also damaged the H. W. Jones buildings and their original facade was condemned and rebuilt in 1921 with the red brick front still visible today. About 1925 Jones Hardware expanded to occupy the Lyric Theater building. In the 1950s the four buildings then occupied by the hardware store were completely remodeled inside and out. Still owned by Jones descendants, but now unoccupied for several years, the buildings have fallen into a distressing state of dereliction. The Lyric Theater building until recently retained some of its original corbelled brick parapet, but when the parapet began to lean noticeably a few months ago the owners, at the City’s urging, had it taken down and replaced with a sheet of plywood.
The next building east of the Lyric Theater building, now Books ‘n’ Stuff, was built about 1901 and was first occupied by a dry goods store. However by 1912 it housed a grocery store, a use which continued under various owners for many years. To its east was a store operated by longtime grocer A. J. Beaver. Following Beaver in that spot in the 1930s and 1940s was the Grand Leaser Dry Goods store. The next brick building in the row was built in 1918 (its site occupied by a frame structure in the 1912 photo) and for much of its history was occupied by various dry goods stores, the most recent of which was Cannon’s Dry Goods, which survived into the 1970s.
The extreme east end of the north row was originally occupied by a two-story frame building that had previously been the Grange Hall. This structure has been built on the west side of Duck Creek, somewhere near the present location of Williams Funeral Directors and later had been moved to serve as an annex to Duck Creek Academy near what is presently the intersection of Avenue F and South Garland Avenue. The Academy was relocated into the new town of Garland around 1997, and the old Grange building came with it. After the school moved to a new building in 1890, Ed Souter rented the Grange Building and operated one of Garland’s earliest restaurants there.
The Grange Building may have been moved once more about 1902, to the intersection of Fifth and Austin Streets to make way for another large frame structure. That Victorian building, which would become the Garland Hotel, was originally the girls’ dormitory of Garland College, built in 1893 at the corner of what is now Ninth Street and Avenue A. After its use as a dormitory was discontinued, Lewis M. T. Flook purchased it and moved it downtown. (Buildings in those days were moved overland by lowering them onto logs/poles and dragging them with teams of mules, that poles acting as rollers.) The hotel enjoyed good visibility from both railroad depots and operated from about 1902 until fire destroyed it in 1932.