Roanoke Route Walking Tour Stop 4: Hardware Store

Hardware Store/ Ross Brown’s Grocery Store, 1890

112 N. Oak St.

Built around 1890, this building started as one story but later added a second floor. Unfortunately, the second floor was destroyed by a fire (year not known). While it's believed to have been a bank, a local legend suggests it had a secret passage connecting it to an adjacent brothel in the Silver Spur Saloon. However, photos prove this story false, as the second floor was added long after the saloon and brothel closed. 

In addition, Jenkins Hardware Store and Ross Brown's Grocery Store used to be housed in this building. Ross Brown’s store eventually moved to Hwy. 377, where Dove Creek Cafe is located today. 

An old icehouse was adjacent to this building in what is now a parking lot. 

Mr. Jenkins’ first hardware store was in the building next to the saloon when this photo was taken between 1912 and 1914. 

The Roanoke Ice House, located in the parking lot adjacent to the hardware building, was the refrigeration station for the Peoples Ice Co. of Denton. Shown here in 1953, at one time it could hold seven tons of ice. 

The building has mostly been one story throughout its history. Here, when it was Texas Energy Services, four iron augers held up the patio cover. Those augers were from Bewley’s Flour Mill, and one of those augers is in the museum.