William Conrad “Billy” (W.C.) Williams was born in Matagorda County on February 20, 1854, to John Aaron Williams and Catharine Elizabeth (Franz) Williams. His father was a ship’s carpenter from Denmark, and his mother was from Germany. In 1876, W.C. Williams married Martha Alice Franz, and they had seven children. Before moving to Palacios, he was a childhood friend of author Charles Angelo Siringo and was mentioned several times in A Texas Cowboy; their families had lived near each other on Matagorda Island in a small colony called the “Dutch Settlement.” In 1903, Williams, his brother, and his son were involved in oil ventures in the Big Hill Oil Discovery Area in Jefferson County. He came to Palacios in 1904 at age fifty and bought a lot to build a commercial structure. Completed in 1909 in the Romanesque style with circular arches, the 4200 square foot brick Williams Building became a cornerstone of the business community and an anchor of downtown Palacios. Its first recorded occupant was Palacios Hardware, owned by O.L. Sparks and later G.H. Davis, and it also housed Traylor Hardware, the office of Dr. Joseph Wagner, Golden Rule Grocery, Price Cash Hardware, and Lawson Hardware. Williams lived in Palacios until his death on November 24, 1946, at age ninety-two, and the building remained in his family until the 1970’s. It stands as a reminder of downtown Palacios before Hurricane Carla destroyed many commercial buildings and homes in 1961.