81 (later 63 and 403) Main St. – Houston TX (build date unknown; demolished 1908/1909)

 

The site of this building was once the location of the executive mansion for the two Presidents of the Republic of Texas – Sam Houston and Mirabeau Lamar lived there from 1837-1839. A few decades later the area was built up with retail and near the southeast corner of Main St. and Preston Ave. was the location of Mellinger & Brothers Grocers. The building was also home to several other grocers, clothiers, and very briefly, the year before it was demolished, the Superba Motion Picture House.

 

The southeast corner of the block was demolished to make way for the Scanlan Building, which still stands today. Click here for an early picture of the Scanlan Building from Houston Public Library’s Houston Area Digital Archives.

 

The Mellinger Brothers moved their store to 909 Prairie St. around 1882 and through the early 1920s it became several other grocers – J.W. Haskins Co., Browne & Mellinger, and Kessler & Dixon, which eventually became a part of Piggly Wiggly in 1919.