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KGTN BUILDING
102 West 8th and
806//8021/2 Main
Georgetown, Texas - July 1983
Narrative by Clara
Stearns Scarbrough, Georgetown
The two-story Victorian
commercial building erected in 1884 and known in 1983 as
the KGTN Building, with front entrance at 103 West 8th
(originally Oak) Street and side entries at 804 and
8021/2 South Main, Georgetown, Texas, is southeast of
the Courthouse. An ornamental pediment prominently
displays the construction date on the front of the
building. A Deed of Trust executed Feb. 6, 1884,
permitted the new owner, S. M. Lesesne, to borrow $4,000
for the purpose of erecting "improvements" on the lot
[1], a fact noted in a February 1884 issue of the
Williamson County Sun. The previous owner, Thomas W.
Marrs, had a sign on his one-story wooden structure, "T.
W. Marrs Dry Goods," operated between Sept. 1880 and
June 1883. [2]
Handcut and
finely-dressed Iimestone forms the exterior of the east
side and the upper story of the north front. At ground
level the north front is a combination of frame and
glass. Also on the front just above the beaded awning
are three transomed windows, above which is a strip of
rubble stone the width of the building. Both rubble and
cut stone were plastered for many years as shown in
photographs of the early 1900s. [3] The plaster was
removed from the facade in 1983. The north front second
story has three semicircular ordered windows and a
moderately elaborate metal cornice with pediment. The
east wall has five similar windows, and three of plain
design are located on the upper south wall. Three
porthole windows are located toward the north end of the
east wall high on the first floor level.
Old timers recall an
ornamental metal stairway attached to the outside of the
building on the east wall about the turn of the century.
[4] There is evidence of such an installation in a
pattern of holes, some with ring hardware still in them,
located diagonally up to the second floor level on a
proper slant for a stairway. Sanford maps for 1885 show
an interior stair; for 1889, 1894 and 1900, no stair and
the map for 1905 again indicates an interior stairway in
the same position as the present one leading to the
second floor offices. [5]
The north front entry is
slightly recessed. Originally, a decorative edging was
painted along the upper rim of the entry walls but is
now obscured by a false ceiling designed to conceal air
conditioning ducts and considerable wiring required by
Radio Station KGTN, housed on the second floor. Fluted
cast iron columns at each side of the front door act as
decorative supports and reach to second floor level.
Texas Historical Commission
architect Dick Ryan examined the building early in 1983
and found it remarkably intact in its original form, the
main exception being the ground floor front facade,
bricked over in 1961-62, at which time the entry door
was moved from center to corner position and the iron
columns concealed behind the brick. This arrangement was
requested by the new tenant, Sam Brady Insurance Agency.
John Smith was contractor for the work.6 During the 1983
restoration, the brick was removed revealing the
columns, and the entryway changed to its center
Position. New wood frames replaced rotted ones on the
three transomed windows and the three porthole windows.
Glass and wood show windows were built in a design
similar to the originals. The restoration plans were
approved by the City of Georgetown Historical Committee.
[7]
An interior restoration in
1981 was done on the south wall alongside the stairway.
Crumbling plaster was removed to reveal attractive
rubble stone. At the lower level, places for a south
door with a window on each side which had served the
original building in 1884 when it was free standing, had
been filled in with brick, probably about 1900 when a
structure was built on the south wall of KGTN's
building. In the restoration, the brick was removed and
matching rubble filled the spaces. The entire wall was
pointed up and the rubble left uncovered. Wesley King of
Round Rock was the contractor.
The building is 23 2/3 feet
wide, 100 feet long, has 18-inch thick exterior walls,
which are 27 feet high. It is directly south of the Town
Square.
"It is because of its
architectural character that the building's role of
anchoring the corner of the block has been retained.
When combined with the other structures at the
intersection of Main and 8th Street, they display, more
than any other corner on the Square, the architectural
genre of Georgetown's commercial • property built during
the late 19th century. [8]
The 1983 restoration work was
done by Carl and Jane Cooley of Houston, who were
responsible for all stonework and painting. Refraining
of windows and front facade show windows and framing
were done by Tom Etherton, contractor, of Round Rock.
Neither the architect nor the
construction firm for the 1884 structure is known. From
1850, when the local census listed three stone masons,
Georgetown and area have had excellent stone craftsmen,
including Swedish and German settlers. These were
repeatedly called upon by builders for many of the fine
stone structures here. [9] George and Tom Irvine, of
Scottish ancestry, were Georgetown pioneers who in 1878
established a lumber and contracting business which they
operated until 1890. Whittle and Harrell Lumber Company
contracted from about 1883 until 1892. It seems likely
that one of these two firms did the building. Several
stone quarries were developed soon after the Civil War
in western Williamson County, including at Liberty Hill,
Bagdad (Leander), Florence and White Stone. Nearly all
the stone used in this county came from one of these
quarries. Other materials needed for the building could
be shipped in after 1878 by the Georgetown Tap Line
Railroad. [10]
Information about property
owners follows:
Sam Houston, President of the
Republic of Texas, signed a patent for 1/3 league to
Clement Stubblefield on Aug. 19, 1844. Thomas B. Huling,
a legislator, bought the land from Stubblefield for $500
on Feb. 20, 1846, and, the following year, took George
Washington Glasscock, a surveyor, as a partner. Huling
knew from his legislative vantage point that a county
would soon be formed on this land and delegated
Glasscock to promote locating the county seat on a
portion of that land. A bargain was agreed upon between
Glasscock, who offered 172 acres if the site would be
named Georgetown for him and be on his land, and the
newly-appointed county officials. The site encompassed
the Courthouse district of Georgetown. The next year
after some legal difficulties, Huling and Glasscock
dissolved their partnership, and Glasscock lost his
power of attorney. But the deal remained and the first
public sale of part of the 172 acres was held July 4,
1848, the county reserving a tract for itself. The KGTN
Building stands on the county tract. [11]
On June 29, 1852, Chief
Justice (now County Judge) Greenleaf Fisk, acting for
Williamson County, sold lot 4 of block 51 (originally
numbered lot 8 of block 2), size 60 feet by 120 feet, at
the corner of Oak (now 8th) and Church streets, to Evan
Williams for $27.50. Williams had signed the petition to
form the county in 1848; the 1850 census listed him as a
farmer. Williams also owned other property around the
Square and in 1853 was renting to the county "both rooms
in his large new building" at $2.50 a day. He understood
construction, for when the county was erecting its first
stone courthouse 1854-57 and had trouble with their
contractor, Williams was called in to complete the job.
[12]
On Jan. 19, 1853, Evan
Williams sold his lot on block 51 for $200 to Thomas C.
Elgin and Edwin B. Davis. Ezra Cartledge bought it from
them for $350 on Mar. 11, 1854. Elsewhere in town,
Cartledge had a grocery store and was licensed to sell
liquor in 1856. He died in 1856 and the property went to
Sanford Morris, who sold it for $1000 to Isaac G. John
of Bastrop County, on April 16, 1856. John immediately
resold it for $1500 to John M. McMiller and John M.
Brown of Washington County. [13]
Dr. David F. Knight, on Jan.
30, 1860, paid Brown and McMiller $800 for the corner
property on which "a large concrete storehouse" stood.
He transferred it on Aug. 29, 1866, to James Knight,
Joseph B. Knight and Cyrus Eubank. James Knight had been
district clerk of Williamson County until the outbreak
of the Civil War. He was then appointed by President
Abraham Lincoln as bodyguard of Gen. A. J. Hamilton,
provisional governor of Texas. Knight returned to
Georgetown after the war was over and began
merchandising, continuing in that business for twelve
years. The partners ran a dry goods, grocery, drug and
hardware store on the corner site. The Georgetown
Watchman for March 23, 1867, mentions their business
southeast of the Courthouse; an April 23, 1870 issue
advertises paints, "Doty's Family Washing Machines" and
saddles, as well as other goods. [14]
Deed records are hazy at this
point, but a 1972 Abstract to this property states that
the next owner was Edward H. Napier. Apparently either
during the ownership of the Knights and Eubank, or while
Napier held the property, an adjoining 60-foot wide lot
was acquired on the west side of the property being
described. On May 22, 1874, Edward H. Napier sold the
corner building and lot, the size now described as 120
by 120 feet, to Mrs. L. J. Warnock and Mary F. Gahagan.
Napier dealt in real estate and cattle, and on Dec. 23,
1872, had sold printing presses and other equipment to
W. K. and Nancy Foster he had used in the publishing of
the Williamson County Record and the Burnet Exponent.
[15]
On Nov. 13, 1879, T. B. and
Mary F. Gahagan deeded the 120-foot square lot with
building to H. N. Kirk and H. Lesturgette and wife, O.
L. Kirk bought out Lesturgette's half of the property
on May 17, 1880. [16]
Thomas W. Marrs paid $750 to
H. N. Kirk for the quarter of a block on Sept. 24, 1880,
valued on the City of Georgetown Tax Rolls for 1880,
1881 and 1883 at $1000. A photograph made between 1880
and 1883 shows "Street Scene in Georgetown in the Early
Days," and T. W. Marrs Dry Goods sign on his building,
pictures a one-story wooden one. On May 19, 1881, the
Williamson County Sun noted: "Mr. T. W. Marrs is having
his store extended back 24 feet. He contemplates laying
in a stock of dry goods and enlarging his stock of
groceries. Mr. Marrs' business has been growing
gradually ever since he established here, and if it
continues to increase for the
*T. W. Marrs was in 16th
Texas Infantry during the Civil War; became grandfather
to
two Methodist bishops, A. Frank Smith (1889-1962) and W.
Angie Smith (1894-1974), brothers, who decided to enter
the ministry in First Methodist Church, Georgetown.
next few years in the same
ratio that it has for the past two, he will be one of
the largest general mercantile dealers in town. The Sun
hopes he will lay in a large stock of dry goods and
groceries and then give it a big advertisement. [17]
Out of his 120-foot frontage,
Marrs sold 23 2/3 feet on the northeast corner of block
51 to S. M. Lesesne on June 28, 1883, for $2000. Six
months later, the Williamson County Sun advertised: "We
invite our friends and the public generally to call and
examine our stock of holiday goods, consisting of
albums, Christmas cards, artificial flowers, odor cases,
cologne stands, glove and handkerchief boxes, dressing
cases, celluloid sets, mirrors, etc." The advertisement
was signed Sanders & Lesesne. Two months later, Lesesne
borrowed $4000 to finance "improvements" on the lot, and
a year later, on Jan. 15, 1885, the Williamson County
Sun complimented "Sanders & Lesesne's elegant drug
store" with its new commercial sign. From this time, for
seventy-six years, the building was occupied by a drug
store. For some years prior to entering the drug
business, Lesesne had served as deputy county clerk; in
1878 he was elected County Treasurer. He repaid the loan
on the lot and "store house" in full on Dec. 29, 1885,
which was acknowledged in January 1886, and at the same
time he and his wife Jennie empowered W. E. Chapman to
sell the property. [18] He moved away from Georgetown
and remained away the rest of his life.
Two men, D. S. Chessher, a
local attorney and County Judge, and Dr. G. W.Foster, a
physician, purchased the Lesesne building and lot on
Nov. 11, 1887 for $5800. The partners engaged a young
pharmacist, William De Kalb Nichols, to run their drug
business in their newly acquired store, and called it
Nichols Drug Store. William Nichols was born in
Montgomery County, Texas, in 1858, attended Southwestern
University, Georgetown, from 1875 to 1880; studied
pharmacy at Vanderbilt University, and in 1882 returned
to make his home in Georgetown. He remained in the drug
business at that location until Dr. Thomas Barton Stone
bought it in December 1892. Nichols died May 25, 1894,
following several months illness of heart disease. [19]
Dr. Stone acquired only the
drug business, not the building, and Chessher and Foster
continue to hold their investment in the property. On
June 14, 1894, Chessher transferred his half of the
ownership to Andrew J. Nelson in lieu of payment on a
loan Nelson had made to Chessher. Foster continued to
hold his part of the property. [20]
Dr. Stone and his family and
descendants were closely involved with this business for
69 years. The following news stories describe them:
(Feb. 17, 1928) T. B.
Stone, 79, pioneer, former college president and for 34
years a businessman of Georgetown, retiring Jan. 1,
1927, died at his home at 9:45 Saturday morning.
Dr. Thomas Barton Stone
was born Jan. 6, 1849 in Montgomery Co., Ala. He came
with his parents to Chappel Hill, Washington County,
Texas, immediately after the Civil War. He was educated
at Old Emory and Henry College, Virginia, and received
his medical training at Tulane University, New Orleans.
He accepted a ?professorship in Chappel Hill Female
College and was later made president of Soule College,
Chappel Hill, serving 3 or 4 yours in that office. He
then moved with his family to Georgetown in 1893 to
enter the drug business here. He continued in the
business to Jan. 1, 1928, when he sold his interest . .
. to his
eldest son and associate
in the business for many years, T. E. Stone. The
business continues in the same name.
He married Kittie Elliott
of Navasota. They had 8 children, 6 of whom survived
him: T. E. Stone of Georgetown, Mrs. W. E. Thies of
Granger, Norman Stone of Georgetown, Mrs. G. B. Bogart
of Dallas, Warren Stone of Bartlesville, Okla.; Barton
Stone, San Antonio. Dr. Stone was a member of the First
Methodist Church and of the Masonic Lodge.
(May 10, 1940) Thomas
Elliott Stone died at St. Louis, Mo., May 4, 1940. . .
the son of Thomas Barton Stone and Catherine Elliott
Stone. He was educated in the Georgetown Public Schools
and Southwestern University and in the School of
Pharmacy at the University of Texas. For the past 47
years he was associated with the drug business. . . .
One June 7, 1905, he married Annie Laurie Lee of
Caldwell.
(Nov. 20, 1942) Stone's
Drug Store celebrates its fiftieth anniversary here. .
it has dispensed drugs, prescriptions, and sundries
under the direction of the same family for 50 years. The
business was established by Dr. T. B. Stone Dec. 1,
1892. . . in later years was joined by his son, T.
Elliott Stone, and on the death of his father Feb. 11,
1928, the business was carried on by the son until his
death May 4, 1940. The business was then taken over by
the widow, Mrs. T. Elliott Stone,*who continues to
operate it on the same high plane of efficiency as had
her faithful and efficient husband and his father. [21]
*A daughter of Thomas
Elliott and Annie Laurie Stone, Tula Lee Stone, operated
the drug store for a number of years after her mother's
retirement and death.
On Nov. 1, 1901, Dr. G. W.
Foster sold his half interest in the building and lot to
Dr. T. B. Stone for $2750. In 1908, Stone granted
permission for J. R. Allen to build onto the west wall
of the corner property. Owners Stone and Nelson were
notified by the City of Georgetown in 1922 that a paving
ordinance for streets and alleys had passed and they
were assessed $535 for the paving of 8th and Main
streets adjoining their property. [22]
On Feb. 8, 1939, heirs of A.
J. and C. A. Nelson sold their half of the property to
an heir of T. B. Stone, Emmie Lee Oliver, for $3000.
Meanwhile, some years earlier, Jan. 8, 1927, Dr. T. B.
Stone and his wife Kittie E. Stone, deeded their portion
of the property to Annie Laurie Stone for $3000, and
between this time and 1961, it had passed through the
hands of a number of Stone heirs. One of them was Vivia
S. Towles, who on behalf of all the heirs, sold the
entire property to Don and Clara Scarbrough for $7000,
on Nov. 17, 1961. [23]
Numerous offices have
occupied the upstairs. Advertisements from 1888 to 1900
show some of the tenants as Dr. W. T. Jones, physician
and surgeon; Dr. G. W. Foster; Dr C. C. Black,
physician and surgeon; Stone's Art Studio, "the place to
have your Picture made if you want theBest, with gallery
opposite the standpipe"; and N. M. Wilcox, another
longtime Georgetown photographer. One or more of the
photographic shops continued to be located upstairs in
this building well into the 20th century. After about
1930, Dr. H. W. Cornick and Dr. R. W. Gamble, dentists,
and Dr. Dewey H. Cooper, a medical doctor, had offices
there. [24]
After purchasing the building
in 1961, Scarbrough did repairs, rearranged offices
upstairs, 8021/2 Main Street, for the use of the
newly-formed Radio Station KGTN. The upper floor
contains seven rooms, used for news, control and
production rooms and offices. Downstairs, the front of
the building was altered as previously described for Sam
Brady Insurance, who occupied two north rooms until
1968, after which this section was leased for the
Drivers License Bureau of the Texas Department of Public
Safety until early 1983. Also in 1961, the south end of
the building on street level was made into a suite of
three rooms, and for about three years. the owners gave
the space rent-free to the newly-organized Georgetown
Public Library for its operation until a permanent home
could be obtained. Other tenants
these south offices (806 Main Street) have been
attorneys Joe McMaster and Bill Buckner and dental
technician Weldon Whitten. [25]
During
restoration of the building April to June 1983, one of
the three back rooms at 806 Main was rearranged to be
included in the front office, at 102 West 8th Street.
This now three-room suite on the north and front of the
building is occupied by artist-photographer Deborah
Grimsley. The two-room space to the rear is used as an
office by Donna Scarbrough Josey, KGTN business
manager, with nursery space for her tiny daughter, Grace
Ammonet Josey. Her husband, Jack Josey, is general
manager of Radio KGTN. [26]
The KGTN Building is in
excellent condition. It is located in a key position in
the Town Square Historic District and is listed on the
National Register as a part of that district. Its owners
have participated in the current Main Street Project and
plan to keep the structure's architectural integrity
intact and to maintain 'le building as needed. They hope
that it will house primarily retail businesses.
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Williamson County 