William Esler was born August 15, 1863 in Tyronville, Pennsylvania, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Jack Esler; he was educated in Meadville, Pennsylvania.
Esler came to Texas from Petrolia, Kansas in 1879, at the age of 16 because "everyone else was." He chose Denison to settle in because his aunt's husband, Jim Leslie, was already living there. For three years he worked as a painter's apprentice and as a paste boy before opening the Paint and Paper Store in 1888 with partner J. Clifford. The business was first located at 609 West Main, then at 501 West Main and finally to 307 West Main. In 1889 Esler married Maude Taylor of Sherman and made the home at 1020 West Morton.
Source : Hunt, Donna. "Uncovering Denison's Colorful Past in Downtown," Herald Democrat, August 26, 2014

Esler's Paint Store
501 West Main St.
Telephones No. 421
This store has been established for a period of twenty-five years. It stands at the very head of the business in this city. Mr. W.M. Esler is the proprietor, and, being a gentleman of long practical experience, has ever given satisfaction to the trade. His work may be seen in the most beautiful homes and leading commercial establishments of Denison. Twelve skilled workmen are constantly employed in the various departments. He deals extensively in wall paper, room moldings, window glass and painters' supplies. For quality, extent and completeness, the stock is unexcelled. The prices here are also noted for their moderation. Estimates cheerfully furnished. Mr. Esler is a representative city of high standing and extends every courtesy and consideration to the trade.
Source: "Denison, the Texas Gateway: A Busy, Progressive City with Golden Opportunities." 16pp. Brochure. N.p.: N.d. [ca. 1908].

61 YEARS A MERCHANT
Denison Man Operates Unique Establishment

Denison, Tex., March 20 (Special) - J.A. Tarve, 79, of Rosebud did not reckon with the career of W.M. Esler of Esler Paint and Paper Company of Denison, when he laid claim recently to being the state's oldest active merchant.

Traver, who has been a Texas businessman for fifty-six years, is a newcomer in the estimation of Esler, who opened here in 1887 and carries on with the enterprise sixty-one years later. Esler's son, Clifford, has been manager for the past decade, but Esler at eighty-four and one-half years still maintains regular office hours and keeps a close watch on his business.

Distinguished as the oldest retail paint and paper firm in Texas, Esler's store is in its fifth or sixth Denison location now after having been opened in the 400 block of West Main. Nothing remains of the original store which Esler opened in partnership with Albert Clifford and for whom his son is named but Esler still prizes two pieces of office equipment that date back more than fifty years.

One is a handsome sign that used to hang on the door of the Esler store. Now in Esler's upstairs office, the sign reads, "House, Sign and Carriage Painters." That according to Esler recalls the days when he specialized in painting and there were forty-eight colors of house paint from which chose. "Now almost everybody uses white to paint a house," he remarks disgustedly.

The other fifty year old reminder is the desk from which Esler continues to conduct his business affairs. Given to him by his wife as a birthday present, the desk was ordered from afar and given to a rival business house here to be finished before Esler's birthday. His present attitude indicates that he he still a trifle picqued that his wife, the former Miss Maud Taylor, would have given another Denison firm the job of finishing the piece of furniture.

Most prized of all his keepsakes is a 70-year-old putty knife which used to belong to George Metcalf, a Denison paperhanger for whom Esler worked as
a paste boy. The knife, with the remaining half of its blade worn to razor thinness, was given to Esler about twenty-years ago by Metcalf's son as a remembrance of his father.

Denison was a town of from 5,000 to 6,000 persons, with fifty saloons on Main street, when Esler came here in 1879 from Petrolia, Kan. Then a boy of sixteen, he came to Texas "because everybody else was," and settled in Denison his aunt's husband, Jim Leslie, was living here. After serving as a painter's apprentice for three years and as a paste boy, he got around to opening his own store.

Admiting that it's natural for him to long for the "good old days," Esler still thinks he knows whereof he speaks when he says Denison was a better town in 1879 than it is now.

"Everybody seemed happier then," he remembers sadly. "The womenfold were more friendly and used to talk over the back fences to each other. I know I'd rather start my own business in 1879 than in 1948."

Where his hobby of wallpaper is concerned, however, Esler admits to a great deal of progress in the quality and varieties, but it was easier to receive a shipment of wallpaper in the old days than it is now, he points out.

Christina Moon purchased the building at 307 West Main and with approval of the Historic Preservation Board in June 2014, began working on the building. Underneath the aluminum slipcover on the front of the building was a sign where Esler Paint and Paper Company once operated; Esler's Paint and Paper Co. first appearedat 307 West Main in the 1927 Denison City Directory. Denison historians began to research and Jim Sears discovered an advertisement in the June 22, 1942 Denison Press that Esler's business was the oldest paint store in Texas.

The 1876-1877 City Directory lists Edmund Dumont and Martin Chichet's grocery store at 307 West Main.
In 1887 John M. Wilkinson, a watchmaker and jeweler, operated at 307 West Main.
In 1892 Fenton and Louisa M. Young operated store at 307 West Main.
In 1896-1899 the building at 307 West Main was part of the White Elephant Saloon.
In 1903 George R. Howell operated a saloon at 307 West Main.
In 1905-1906 the building was a pool room operated by C.W.Senti and Mr. Carter.
In 1907 three businesses were listed at 307 West Main - Dispatch Publishing, L.B. Eastham Shoe Store, and Mrs. Mattie Sherburne's dress making store.