Abilene History in Plain Sight Driving Tour
Historic Homes of Six Abilene Merchants
The six homes featured in this tour were all built in the 1920s and are the former residences of Abilene couples who helped move the city forward by providing goods, services and jobs. Three of the homes are on the southside and three on the north. If you start with the Dillingham home on Belmont, you will be driving in a fairly straight line north to the Campbell home.
The business buildings for four of these merchants still stand in downtown Abilene –Wooten Grocery at 101 Walnut, Minter Department Store at 244 Pine, Hall Music at 258 Pine and Campbell’s Dry Goods at the southwest corner of Pine and N. 2nd.
1625 Belmont, Olie D. and Ada Dillingham home | 1927
The Belmont Addition was developed in 1925 by Winfield James. The largest home along the boulevard is the red-bricked home of O.D. and Ada Dillingham occupying more than one lot. Mr. Dillingham owned and operated Banner Creameries, an enterprise spread across West Texas. The Abilene plant was at S.14th and Butternut, within easy walking distance of the Dillingham home. Mr. Dillingham partnered with John Fielder in 1936 to establish the Fielder-Dillingham lumber business that was located at S. 4th and Chestnut (now a parking lot). O.D. Dillingham died in 1975 at the age of 90 and Mrs. Dillingham died in 1978. Banner merged with Foremost Dairy in 1953. Fielder-Dillingham Lumber sold in 1963.
774 Butternut, George and Lavinia McDaniel home | 1927
George McDaniel came to Abilene in 1889 and would marry Lavinia Parker in 1891. Purchasing lumber from Lavinia’s dad, George built a home at 774 Butternut that year. In 1927 the McDaniel’s built a new home on the same lot in 1927. Six years after its completion, Mr. McDaniel, who was in the hardware, grocery and dry goods business passed away at the age of 73. In 1948, Mrs. McDaniel was named as the State Woman of the Year by the Golden Rule Foundation of New York and she taught Sunday School at First Presbyterian for 50 years. In 1974, having lived at 774 Butternut for 76 years, Lavinia died at the age of 98. Shortly after her death the home became the property of the Junior League.
502 Poplar, Ozella (Ozia) Hall home | 1920
This home built on the rise at S.5th and Poplar was constructed by William Boyd, a rancher, in 1920. Ozia Hall moved into the home in 1926. (Ozia’s husband, Emmett died in 1924). She was the president of Hall Music Company located on Pine Street. Ozia and Emmett had five children, Vivian, Emmett, Elmore, Elbert (Abilene mayor 1981-1984), and Vera. In 1934, Vera Hall married Will D. Minter. The two family businesses – Hall Music and Minters Department Store – stood side by side on Pine and both buildings remain today (Under One Roof and Hallows). The downtown park at Cypress and N.3rd was given to the city as a memorial to Ozia’s youngest daughter, Vera Hall Minter. The park is undergoing a facelift right now. (Might as well drive by since you’re out.)
242 Beech, Horace and Ella Wooten home | 1920
Few names reach as far back as Wooten in Abilene’s history. Horace Wooten arrived with his family in Buffalo Gap before the founding of Abilene and Ella Hunt’s family ranched in southern Taylor County in the early 1880s. (The old Hunt Mercantile building still stands in Bradshaw.) Mr. Wooten built a wholesale grocery empire covering West Texas and he invested in Abilene projects such as the Hotel Wooten, Mims Building, Hilton Hotel, RS&P Railroad and the Paramount Theatre (where his portrait hangs upstairs). The Wooten’s built this home in 1920 and lived their until their deaths. H.O. died in 1947 and Ella died on New Years Day in 1951.
340 Beech, Will and Mabel Minter home | 1925
The Minter family, like the Wootens, can claim charter Abilene citizenship. Will began Minter’s Dry Goods business in 1900, the same year he married Mabel Montgomery, her family too were charter citizens with her father, Henry Montgomery, serving as the town’s first postmaster. Will Minter died in 1935 having called Abilene home for 54 years. Mabel taught school for many years and was active in First Presbyterian Church. She died in 1956 but the home remained in the Minter family until the mid-’60s. Minter Dry Goods was family-owned until 1974 when it was sold to Fort Worth-based Odell Stores. The old building still stands at 244 Pine. In 1971, the former Minter home was renovated into offices of the Tittle, Luther, Loving and Lee (now Parkhill, Smith and Cooper) leaving the original floor plan intact.
1546 N. 5th, T.C. and Alice Campbell | 1920
This 1920 home was designed by David Castle in 1919 and built at a cost of $17,000. T.C. worked for Will Minter from 1900 to 1903 before striking out on his own. In 1912 he built a store at N.2nd and Pine (the building is still there but has a stucco façade covering the old store.) Mrs. Campbell, and her sister “Miss Charlie,” worked at the store for a number of years. The Campbell’s building later became home to Woolworths. The Campbell home was occupied for 52 years by the family. T.C. Campbell died 1954 and Alice passed away in 1970. Miss Charlie continued to live in the home until her death in 1972.
