This building appeared on the 1884 Sanborn Fire Insurance Map in its current configuration as a two-story, masonry commercial building. This map was the first in the Sanborn series of early Dallas maps (1884-1939), that covered the commercial buildings in Dallas in great detail. While this building is not identified on any of these Sanborn maps with a specific name, it is referred to as the “Butler Building” in several contemporaneous articles about fires on this block and we will characterize it that way.
The building was built to accommodate two separately numbered shop spaces, one to the north at 869 Main and a south half at 877 Main. The architectural features of the unified building are discussed first in this narrative. Following that discussion, the use and unique features of the north space at 869 Main will make up the rest of this narrative.
This building and two others on the 800 block of Main (827 & 837 Main), were two-stories tall and built from masonry in or before 1884. The rest of the buildings on the block were of wood construction. This building was developed in a plain commercial style in the early stages of the Italianate design but with features hinting at the ornate and exuberant elements of the style to follow in the next few years. The features on this building included a unified façade with a small sculpted cornice molding overhanging a full-length, horizonal dentil molding and, originally, six equally spaced, tall, thin double hung windows with modestly shaped, decorative lintels atop them. These tall, thin windows, characteristic of the of the verticality of the Italianate era, fell victim to “modernization” trends in the early to mid-20th century when simpler, wider windows of the Arts and Crafts era emerged as the “must have” style. Thus, in several buildings around the square, the tall windows were removed and replaced with wider and more horizontal windows with multiple mullions and muntins which did away with various decorative touches such as the elaborate lentils and curves of the earlier Italianate era. Examples of these anachronistic window upgrades can be found on the IOOF Building (East) at 115 SE Court, on the New IOOF Building at 837 Main, the Blue Garden Building at 827 Main and this building.
In July 1889, a big fire swept through the 800 block, doing great damage to the wooden buildings on the block. The masonry buildings survived and shortly thereafter, especially in 1889 and 1890, the whole block was lined with increasingly elaborate, two-story masonry buildings, all of which some 135 years later remain and make up the core of our historic district.
According to the Sanborn maps of 1884 and 1888, this store featured drugs, paints, and oils on the first floor and the second was vacant. By 1892, this store space sold groceries and crockery while the second floor was converted to offices. In 1913, the second floor was vacant and dry goods, crockery and boots and shoes were sold on the first floor. By 1939 this storefront was vacant.
Garrett’s Auto Supply Store was established in the storefront approximately 1939 or 1940. Dr. C. L. (“Clint”) Foster, a dentist, and Lee Stillwell purchased the auto supply store in 1945, calling it Foster & Stillwell. Clinton (‘Bud’) L. Foster, Jr. joined the business in 1946 when he returned from World War II service. Due to poor health, Mr. Stillwell sold his half interest to Bud Foster in 1948. The name was then changed to Foster Auto and Sports Fishing and Hunting. The office upstairs belonged to Dr. Foster, and was used in his dental practice. As of this date, the building remains in the Foster family trust. A-Team Locksmith leased this storefront in c. 2000 and is still in this building today.
KEY REFERENCES:
- Library of Congress Sanborn Maps:
- Copies of photos from Polk County Historical Society
- Polk County Assessor Records
- Capital Journal newspapers; September.18,1945, January 21, 1946, January 28, 1948