The 1913 McKinney Store Collapse

by Carol O'Keefe Wilson

Overview

A powerful vibration, a deafening noise and a swell of thick dust brought residents of McKinney pouring into the public square on the afternoon of January 23, 1913. What they saw was horrifying--an entire building had collapsed, demolishing two popular retailers, the Cheeves Mississippi Store and Tingle Implement Store. Their contents, including many shoppers and clerks, spilled out into the streets, where layer upon layer of debris settled into a massive, ragged pile. In spite of a herculean rescue effort, eight people perished. Carol Wilson sifts through the disaster and its aftermath, dredging up some troubling facts about how the tragedy might have been prevented.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781467139502
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	07/02/2018
Series:	Disaster
Pages:	144
Sales rank:	1,166,469
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.30(d)

About the Author

Carol Wilson is an enthusiast of Texas history with two previous books to her credit: In the Governor's Shadow: The True History of Ma and Pa Ferguson and The Stage Stops Here: The History of the Stagecoach Inn, Salado, TX. Carol is a graduate of Mary Hardin-Baylor; a Texas CPA, retired; and a former Certified Fraud Examiner. She lives in Temple with her husband, Guy, but spends much time in Florida, where the couple's two grown daughters reside.

Table of Contents

Preface 7

Acknowledgements 9

1 Out of the Ashes 11

2 Those Odd Fellows 18

3 The Turbit/Bates Building 27

4 The Cheeves Faithful 33

5 A Broken Calm 45

6 Bricks and Mortar 55

7 Is that You, Mr. Thomas? 62

8 A Blanket of Sorrow 68

9 Smile and Say Cheeves 76

10 Heroes and Villains 84

11 Moving Forward 93

12 The Blame Game 100

13 When Good Men Did Nothing 108

14 Afterward and Afterthoughts 113

Notes 125

Bibliography 135

Index 139

About the Author 143