National Register Listing

McKie-Bass Building

a.k.a. Hays County Abstract Company Building;See Also:Hays County C

111 N. Guadalupe St., San Marcos, TX

The McKie-Bass Building is the only commercial building in San Marcos that has retained its cast-iron front. Other features are well preserved, making it one of the outstanding 19th-century structures of the courthouse square.

W.R. and Daniel McKie and their sister Jennie McKie Hutchins erected the building in 1893 as an investment. B. Daily operated a grocery there in 1895. C.T. Bass of Georgetown purchased in 1904 and, with his son, Charles H., operated a drugstore until about 1926. For a while, the second floor was used for the Bass family apartment. Bass served the area as a state senator. The building changed hands and functions in 1944 when W.D. Talmadge bought it for his hardware business. Presently the Hays County Abstract Company owns and occupies the structure.

Bibliography
Zeb H. Fitzgerald, an unpublished narrative written March 29, 1982. On file at the San Marcos Public Library.

San Marcos Record, November 1, 1935.

Interview with Zeb Fitzgerald, April 6, 1982.
Local significance of the building:
Architecture

Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.