STREETY

     W.C. Streety was born on December 18, 1857 in Freestone County.  His father sickened and died while serving in the Confederate Army in the Civil War, when W.C. was only four years old.  As an adult, W.C. initially moved to Oakwood, Texas and then to De Leon in 1883 at age 26.  He married maggie Anderson on January 26, 1881 and his mother died soon after the marriage.

      Even though Mr. Streety was one of the leading merchants of early De Leon and at the time of his death was considered to be one of two merchants that had operated in De Leon the longest, few details of his businesses have survived.

       It is known that he partnered with John D. Ham in both the lumber business and the grocery business.  He also partnered with his brother-in-law (A.L.?) Anderson and John W. Gorman in the dry goods business that apparently evolved into W.C. Streety & Company.  A souvenir card from Gorman-Streety-Anderson Co.’s Millinery Opening was dated April 8 and 9, 1898.

       He was instrumental in organizing the corporation that built the Travelers Hotel and apparently had to buy the hotel after the boom to keep it out of bankruptcy.  His family sold it a year after his death.  He was also involved in the First National Bank, serving as President probably until it was sold in 1920.  He also had land and business interest in Sanderson.

       Mr. Streety served as Sunday School Superintendent of the First Methodist Church for thirty-five years.  When he stepped down, the church voted him Sunday School Superintendent Emeritus for life.  The church was filled past it capacity at his funeral with mourners occupying class rooms on the upper two levels and standing outside the church.

Above:  1857-1928 W.C. Streety as a young man.  Below:  W.C. in later years and his wife Maggie Anderson Streety 1860-1951.

Above: Julia Streety in her wedding dress.  She married Dr. Henry P. Rush and eventually moved to San Angelo.

W.C. Streety and Maggie Anderson Streety had five children, a son Lloyd who died at age 11 of “congestion of the stomach” 1884-1895; an infant baby that was born and died on Dec. 23, 1895; and three daughters; May Streety Whaley Kee (or Kea); Julia Streety Rush; and Mrs. A.M. Pate of San Antonio.

Above:  A photo of the Streety Store about 1915.  The store is now Franks Appliance and for many years housed W.H. Smith’s.

Below:  Interior of Streety’s around the same time.  It was the second site of Streety’s store.

Standing in front of the home of their daughter, May Streety Whaley sometime before 1913.  L-R:  Maggie Streety, May Whaley, W.C. Streety and son-in-law O.E. Whaley who died in 1913. This house still stands immediately north of the F&M Motor Bank

    The Streety home in 1910.  Mrs. Streety is leaning on the column on the right.  The ladies are members of the Women’s Missionary Society of the Methodist Church. 

   The Streetys built a new home on the south east corner of Texas and Labadie probably during the oil boom.  It is still standing today.

Above: W.C. Streety on the left when he and John D. Ham were partners in a grocery business.

Below:  Ham and Streety also were partners in a lumber yard originally started in 1881 by John Ham.  It was located on Gonzales behind today’s De Leon Auto.