Around Town

The John Rowe Building, 101 S. Dallas, now home to a number of shops and a restaurant, was built by Hix Mc-Canless, who had been commissioned by Rowe, an early commercial leader, to construct his dry goods store, one of several Ennis firms he owned. Completed in 1905, the familiar red-brick structure with its turreted façade, has served the Bluebonnet City as a place of business for over 115 years, barely surviving damage from a tornado in 2013. 

The Ennis Historical Society, formerly known as the Heritage Society, last week hosted a lecture at the Ennis Railroad and Cultural Heritage Museum on an aspect of local interest. The subject was the Texas Midland Railroad which preceded the Southern Pacific Railroad of more recent years. The talk was given by Ennisite Jim Grant.

“I remember when the Southern Pacific was the largest employer in town,” said Grant in opening his speech, adding that he wondered what Ennis would be like today without the railroad, so critical was it to the founding and early development of the city.

One of the Ennis Post Office’s earliest known mail carriers was Ambrose (“A.B.”) Ross. Born in Tennessee in 1864 he moved to Ennis in 1891. According to the Ennis Weekly Local, Ross served as a teacher in Alma and Palmer before accepting employment by the U.S. Mail Service at Ennis in 1906 as one of the facility’s very first carriers.

Ross remained with the Ennis Post Office for 27 years, retiring in 1933. He died in 1941 at age 77, survived by his wife of 46 years, the former Pattie Bomer of Kaufman, and their nine children.