Commerce: A Cornerstone of Hunt County

When many think of Hunt County, they immediately muse on Greenville, the county's seat. Greenville is a beautiful place with a very rich history. However, the city located slightly northeast of Greenville, Commerce also has a vibrant history. Commerce (where I currently live and work at) is a magnificent community and a colorful cornerstone of the county. The City of Commerce was established in 1872 when William Jernigin, a former Arkansas legislator, opened a mercantile store on a new trade route in Hunt County. The store grew immensely popular among weary travelers (who heavily used the bridge over the South Sulphur River), and later a community sprouted around Jernigin's establishment. 

The Commerce Union Depot was frequently busy during the weekdays as trains ferried passengers and trade goods (including cotton) to and from the growing city at the end of the nineteenth century. Commerce became a trading hub of Northeast Texas.

At first, the new community was unnamed. However, after Jernigin consistently asked his suppliers to ship his goods to "Commerce," the name stuck. The city was officially incorporated by the state (and Hunt County Judge J.S. Sherrill) in 1885, and proudly boosted 12 businesses, in addition to a wood shop and wagon factory, hotel, steam mill and gin, church and a school. An influx of civilians and trade poured into Commerce in 1887 when the enlarging city was connected to Texarkana, Sherman, and Fort Worth via the St. Louis Southwestern Railway. Also, Kentuckian educator William Leonidas Mayo moved his college from Cooper to Commerce in 1894; the arrival of East Texas Normal College (later re-named Texas A&M-Commerce) further built upon the city's strong academic foundations. By the end of the nineteenth century, Commerce was far beyond the pioneering inception it had once been.

Downtown Commerce in c. 1890, shortly after the arrival of the St. Louis Southwestern Railway. Professor Mayo's college moved to Commerce in 1894 and was temporarily housed in a room on the second floor of the city's bank (shown in the background).

The population of Commerce had steadily risen to over 2,800 by 1910, and the community now housed a flour mill and cottonseed oil mill, a roundhouse, several cotton gins, and four banks. Schools (built in concrete buildings instead of log cabins) gradually populated the area. A U.S. Post Office broke ground in July 1917. The handsome building consisted of 2 floors and enclaved in red shale brick walls which featured light-colored sandstone trim and multiple Palladian windows. The post office, which cost the United States Department of Treasury a whopping $45,000 to build, was contracted by Algernon Blair of Montgomery, Alabama. Despite some delays in construction (due to the nation's entry into World War I), the Post Office was completed on August 15, 1918. A modern U.S. Post Office was built next to the original in 1972 (and the original was renovated into the city's public library). The city's population continued to swell in the Great Depression and World War II, however, slowly turned south when the machine shops moved to Tyler in the 1950s. The passenger trains, which had assisted in Commerce's growth in trade and population, were discontinued in 1956. Furthermore, the many cotton gins began to disappear (the 1950s were no longer supporters of "King Cotton"), with the last cotton gin quietly closing its doors in 1978.

Automobiles crowd the streets in Downtown Commerce, c. 1931.

Commerce's population fell to modern historic lows of around 5,700 in 1960, the same period where the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex was rapidly expanding. By the mid-1980s (when the doors of East Texas State University threatened to close), Commerce's businesses had moved on and the city appeared to be a shell of its former prosperous self. As the twenty-first century beckoned with promising prospects, the city's largest employees included the university, WalMart, Sherwood Medical, Manatee Homes, and American Wood. The current population tops just over 8,000 civilians, many are retirees and those from families who have been in the area for many generations. Despite its loss of productive commerce and local businesses, Commerce still wields an antiqued charm for history lovers, young and old (and, may I add, there are a couple of fantastic restaurants in the area too!). 

Today, Commerce's City Hall is at the heart of the downtown square. The building houses the offices of the mayor and city council officials. It is a modern touch amidst an older community. 

One of my favorite parts of Commerce is the peaceful downtown square, where my wife and I frequently enjoy walking our dog there. This is a 2020 photograph of Main Street. McKay's Country Kitchen in Downtown Commerce offers customers phenomenal breakfast foods!

The city's first post office was relocated to another building across the road and renovated into the public library in the early 1870s at a cost of $200,000. I always enjoy driving past this facility and imagine the large throngs of passerbys bustle in and out of their post office.

The city's first post office was built in 1917-1918.

The City of Commerce has had a long, intertwining relationship with Texas A&M-Commerce since 1894, following the arrival of William L. Mayo's college from Cooper. Professor Mayo is pictured in the center of this photograph. He is surrounded by his 1905 A.B. graduates (students who earned a Bachelor of Arts degree that year). Mayo played an instrumental role in the growth of Commerce.

There were many times during ET's early years when the college did not have enough dormitory beds. Instead, students would be housed at local residences. Above, tenants pose on the front patio of Grace Hymer's house in 1912. Hymer opened her house to students needing a bed for the night/breakfast in the morning. Hymer would later receive a teaching certificate from the college.

When Arthur's Pharmacy on Lee Street opened its doors in the late 1920s, college and high school students flocked to the new establishment to enjoy a refreshing 5-cents milkshake. The restaurant also sold over-the-counter drugs and school supplies.

Despite a gruesome world war raging in Europe and Asia in the 1940s, there were a few lighthearted moments during ET's pep rallies in the downtown square. The pep rallies, which involved the college's award-winning band and cheerleaders, were led by letter jacket-clad students of the "T" Association.

ET was one of 200 colleges nationwide selected by the U.S. Army to host and provide specialized training to Army candidates during WWII. Army Specialized Training Program (ASTP) students, pictured above in 1943, would often let off steam after classes at various restaurants and cinemas in Downtown Commerce. The city thrived during the war because of the cadets' activities. The ASTP students would later be relocated to Camp Maxey in Paris, Texas.

Lucie Lou Whitley, ET President Whitley's daughter, was often seen with friends at Arthur's Pharmacy in the early 1940s. She would often disobey her father and smoke cigarettes in Greenville and Sulphur Springs. Los Mochis Mexican Restaurant currently sits in the pharmacy's location.

East Texas State University used to host homecoming parades in Downtown Commerce in the 1950s and 1960s. This particular float, depicting an old automobile and armed gangsters, was part of the 1964 "Roaring Twenties" themed parade. Other parade floats commemorated Charles Lindbergh's 1927 transatlantic flight from New York to Paris, the Hollywood silent film era, and the 1925 Scopes Trial.