The J. A. Baker Store

Opened in 1894, this mercantile house is one of the Texas South Plains' oldest stores still owned by its founding family. Its founder, James Artemas Baker, who also founded the town of Lockney, was born near Dallas and lived in Hamilton from 1879 to July 1890, when he moved here. He was acting postmaster in 1893 and served by appointment from 1894 to 1901. He freighted and, with the help of his wife Alice, ran the store, selling hardware, sundries, dry goods, and groceries. In the town's early days, people also relied on the store's safe for banking. After an earlier frame building burned, this structure was erected in 1914.

Lockney, Texas · United States