Downtown Frisco City: Then and Now

This rephotographic tour of Frisco City will cover as many buildings as possible of the downtown business area beginning on the south end, at the intersection of Central Avenue and Bowden St./Hwy 21, and examining the west side of Bowden St. toward the north end and former Frisco Theater. Then, beginning with J.J. McWilliams & Son at the intersection of Bowden St. and the Excel/Frisco Hwy., the tour of the east side of Bowden St. travels back south toward Central Avenue.

For many of these businesses, I can only estimate dates of their existences from ads and interviews. I hope at a future time to find concrete dates for the comings and goings of businesses from tax records and insurance maps. The interviews featured in this blog cover a period from about the 1940s to the 1960s, so information on the building and the numerous businesses that cycled through it is loosely confined to those decades. 

To start the "tour," select a building from the menu on the left.  

For now, welcome to Frisco City.

RC Cola, Hendrix Tractor

The first building on this stretch was the old RC Cola Bottling Company from the 1930s until the late 1970s.

 1968 Friscola yearbook ad 

  D&D Furniture offices November 2010  

Annie Laura Tatum, a long-time Frisco City resident, remembers a popular RC ad:

Lou Dunn, another Frisco City resident, names his favorite RC-Nehi beverage.

The adjacent building was occupied by Lee Motor Company from 1921 to at least 1940, then by Hendrix Tractor Company from the 1940s-late 1960s.

Lee Motor Company
1940

  Hendrix Tractor 1950 Crimson-White yearbook photo  

 D&D Furniture Factory Outlet November 2010 

 Hendrix Tractor 1957 Crimson and White yearbook ad 

 D&D Furniture Factory Outlet November 2010 

This strip of buildings now houses the main offices and showrooms of D&D Furniture Factory Outlet.

Admiral Byrd's station

The corner building on the southwest end of the downtown area functioned as a service station for a number of years. At one time it was owned by a man called "Admiral Byrd." He may or may not have actually been an admiral, according to interviewed residents, but he certainly had a commanding personality.

A former childhood employee of Admiral Byrd's, Tim Taylor, describes an experience he had (literally) acquitting two out-of-towners exposed to the Admiral's censure.

The corner building is now enclosed and is part of Ray's Hardware, one of the few businesses still open in the downtown area. Parts of the original walls of Admiral Byrd's station are still visible inside Ray's.

  Admiral Byrd's station 1957 Friscola yearbook ad 

Ray's Hardware 2010