Old Morales Store
Recorded Texas Historic Landmark
1 mile south of Morales on Hwy 111
 

Old Morales Store

Originally built in early 1860s of rough pine. Local gathering place then-- as now. Exterior appearance is same.
Recorded Texas Historic Landmark, 1967.
 

Courtesy of Texas Historical Commission and The Portal to Texas History

Morales Store - July 20, 2018
Original store building with some additions at its third location on Highway
 

Morales
By I. T. Taylor
Cavalcade of Jackson County
Notes by Louise LaBauve
Courtesy of the Texas Historical Commission

Morales is a very old community and probably next to the oldest town in Jackson County, Texana. It was a thriving village long before the Civil War. This community was on the J. Vess league which was granted by the Mexican government to Jonathan Vess.

This little village was named after a Spaniard, who started the village by building a blacksmith shop. The community grew from this shop to a post office and store in a short time, all located on the same tract of land, including the Masonic hall. At the close of the Civil War, about 1870, Morales was quite a thriving community. More stores had been added, a drug store, two or three saloons, a gin and a telegraph office. This telegraph office was the first in Jackson County, the wires being strung in 1870 between Columbus and Victoria. Morales was the only station between these cities. A Mr. Spruce owned the first telegraph office and his half brother, Mr. Gerrard was the first operator. Frank Morales owned the first blacksmith shop, Dr. P. K. Miller was the first doctor and owned the first drug store. Joel Wingfield and Mr. Garrett, first postmaster; Miss Gustie among the first teachers; C. C Moore owner of the first cotton gin, gristmill and saw mill, and Del Rodgers, owner of the first store. Others who owned the store were as follows: Mrs. Bock, John Knopp, Herman Lochausen, Henry Strane, Frank Ball and Charlie Boles, others from 1936 have operated the store until the present time (1967), Mr. D. J. Jordan owns it.

Mr. W. W. Moore of Houston has this to say about the times at Morales. Being a native of Morales he had these stories almost first hand: "Morales in the early days was quite a wild place and the records of Jackson County will show that possibly more men were killed in fights in that community than in any other place in the county. It became so notorious at one time that people passing through, before they reached Morales would inquire the distance to Morales and ask if there wasn't some way they could drive around the village. In one of the old homes, you could examine the west wall of the room on the southeast corner and you would find a large dark stain--it was made from blood. It seems that a man was arrested for some misdemeanor at Texana and was to be placed in jail there, but the Deputy Sheriff stopped with the prisoner and attended a dance at Morales. In order that his prisoner not escape he handcuffed him to a chair and placed him next to the wall. During the dance an enemy of this man (at that time nearly everyone in Morales had enemies) slipped to the south window and blew his head off with a double-barreled shotgun. Naturally, no one know who had done the killing. Many such stories have been related and most of them have been authenticated. Nearly all of the oddest stories have a background of truth, even though some might be slightly exaggerated.

The important thing about this old store is that it still looks much the same as it did at the time that Morales was in its prime of life. All of the people used the store at that time as they do today, as the gathering place, even more than they did the church and schools, due to the fact that many of the inhabitants did not go to church or were too old to go to school. Nobody was too old, too good or too bad to go to the community gathering place of Morales, the Grocery Store, then a General Merchandise Store.

It has taken on a white paint front but otherwise it is the same old store in a quieter surrounding, even though until a few years ago, it was still considered out of bounds at different gatherings that were held in those parts.

The architecture could be termed "Early Morales and Early Jackson County."

Brush arbors were erected near the store and people came for miles around for camp meetings, however the first church established was the Methodist, but until recent years no building was ever erected.

Mr. W. W. Moore of Houston, still owns ranches in the Morales community. "It seems that the men of Morales really got around. In the early sixties there was an old Grimes? hide and tallow factory that was located between Texana and Port LaVaca. The citizens of Morales were losing cattle by the hundreds as well as a great number of fine horses. They held a mass meeting and formed a vigilant committee to find out what was becoming of their livestock and punish the guilty parties. The cattle thieves sold these cattle at one dollar per head for their hide and tallow and the committee hung several of the thieves to end the depredation to their livestock. Rev. Johnny Cook and many other pioneer preachers went along to pray for the thieves and to sing the Doxology after they were hanged.

Some of the older people have told their descendants that the Dalton Boys came from Missouri as an outcrop of the Civil War. One day while a Methodist revival was going on, it was told that the Dalton Boys were in Morales. With all the wailing and crying of the women and children, and probably some of men, the braver ones went off on the man hunt, not finding the Dalton Boys. The Boys really did come through Morales and LaVaca County, hiding in what was known then as the "Devil's Pocket" on the Navidad River.

More stories come to mind with the telling of others, but it all leads back to the center of attraction in the town, the Old Morales Store.
 

Old Morales Store
By Louise LaBauve
Jackson County Survey Committee Chairman

According to Mr. C. W. Boles, who once operated this store along with his father, the building was rebuilt several times. The original building was located about a city block from the present location, being moved when the highway came through that area in or about 1936. The lumber is rough pine, worn thin in many places by the traffic through the years. I found some nails left that were square heads but most of the ones that were exposed were round heads, showing that replacement had been necessary.

Mr. Strane built the store at one time  in approximately 1895, but the store had been there since before the Civil War. It is assumed that instead of completely building a building, they merely added to what had been there for many years. Due to the fact that Morales is the second oldest village in Jackson county, it is possible that the store has been there since around the early sixties. In 1870 it was recorded that Morales had two grocery stores as well as other types of businesses. As to the origin of the lumber, it did not come from Jackson County's saw mill which was owned and operated by the Moore family. The building is of hard, rough pine, very likely hauled in from East Texas.