The Town of Mexia, 1877

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The earliest Sanborn Insurance map of the town of Mexia is dated 1877 and encompasses just three blocks, directly east of the railroad tracks.

Everything outside of this is marked "Vacant Ground." Below the dated stamp is the state of the fire department: Volunteer Fire Department. 1 Hook & Ladder. All the brick buildings have cisterns inside with hand force pumps. 

The northernmost section of the map, above Palestine, marks a total of eight structures: three homes (Dwg stands for dwelling), two of them two stories in height, a Printer, one two story office building, and a photo gallery with a small space out back. Wherever you see an "x" marks a window. The numbers indicate single or double stories. 


 On the south side of Palestine is even less: two warehouses, one office, one home.

The primary street's lots are nearly 100% occupied.



The northern side of Commerce starting at Railroad, west to east is filled with a brick structure containing grocers and dry goods on the first floors, offices and a bank on the second floors. Across the alley are wood buildings containing a harness & paint shop, a furnishings store, a fruit stand, and then two more dry goods and grocers shops, the corner building made of brick, before you get to Sherman.



The southside of Commerce are two more two-story brick buildings containing dry goods, a Hardware & Tin Shop, and Auction house, and on the corner at Sherman, a grocer.


Behind the brick building, the buildings facing Railroad are mostly wood structures containing saloons, one restaurant, one sleeping house, a broom making shop, and attached to the southernmost saloon, a Ten Pin bowling alley.  All are single story buildings except the saloon and restaurant at Commerce.

The Sherman side has a two-story dry goods building, a Notions shop, and a Book Shop next door to the American Hotel at the corner of Sherman & Main.  The remaining buildings on Railroad down to main are a carpenter's shop and a vacant storefront. There is a harness store and a drugstore across from the American Hotel on Sherman and one home across the street from the bakery.


South of Main is the cotton warehouse, the two story Gatlin Hotel, a Dry Goods store and the bakery. A livery is the last thing on Main street at McKinney

Moving back up to the eastern portion of Commerce between Sherman and McKinney and rounding out the rest of the town is the all wooden block of dry goods & grocers, furnishings, two millinery shops, two more auction houses, another bakery, a laundry, a gun shop, the Buggy Hotel and livery, and on the corner a blacksmith and the post office. Across from there, two more blacksmiths and "MEAT" with a corncrib out back and the Hook & Ladder Ho. (which generally stands for Hotel, although I was thinking this may be where the firehouse is.)








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