Old Wooten, H. O., Grocery
a.k.a. Humphrey,A.C.,Warehouse
128 E. Rotan, Stamford, TX<p>The A.C. Humphrey Warehouse was built between 1913 and 1922, but most likely in 1916 or 1917. It serves as a historical reminder of the flourishing wholesale grocery trade that emerged in Stamford before World War I and is the best surviving example of commercial masonry work in the city.</p><p>During Stamford's first three or four decades of existence, it developed a healthy wholesale grocery industry. The T.M. Radford Company arrived in 1904, the H.O. Wooten Grocery Company opened in 1905, the Waples-Platter Company in 1909, and the Walker Smith Company in 1915. The H.O. Wooten Grocery Company decided to expand its operations, and in 1916 purchased the lots that the present building occupies. Soon thereafter they built this large and handsome structure.</p><p>Although this building was essentially a warehouse, the company spent extra money to construct an ornate structure that was built by skilled craftsmen from quality materials. Many of Stamford's early commercial structures were built of similar materials at a similar or higher level of craftsmanship. Regrettably, most of these buildings are either gone or heavily modified (usually stuccoed), so that the high-quality brickwork is now obliterated. The A.C. Humphrey Warehouse is the last, and largest, remaining example of high-quality commercial masonry left in the city, as well as being the best preserved and best built of all Stamford's surviving warehouse structures.</p>
Local significance of the building:Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1986.
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.