For generations this site was the commercial and social heart of the community. Wallace Alexander "Lex" Word (1896-1982), born in Kyle to William Alexander and Mamie (Sledge) Word two months after his father's death, graduated from Kyle High School in 1913 as the only male in a class of six, worked in his uncle's bank in Mathis, later attended Texas A&M College, and served in World War I. After returning to Texas and managing stores in Grayburg and Huntsville, he moved back to Kyle in 1926 and, with Alex Kercheville and Jack Sledge, opened the Bon Ton, a general store and grocery first located in the historic Masonic building before moving to this location; around the same time, he bought out his partners. In 1929, Lex married Taylor native Louise "Bobby" Gossett (1904-2000), who had come to Kyle to teach school. During the Great Depression he expanded the store, adding a feed store and hatchery while many downtown businesses closed. A fatal fire at this site killed Cal "Big Boy" Clark in 1934, but the store was rebuilt. For decades the Bon Ton remained a primary community gathering place. Lex and Bobby Word were church and civic leaders active in the First Baptist Church. After Kyle State Bank closed in 1932, Lex helped reorganize the town's only depository as Citizens State Bank. He also opened an adjacent implement store, helped restart the cooperative cotton gin in the 1930s, and with Bobby donated space in the back of the Bon Ton for a reading room that became the town's first library in the 1950s. The store kept the Bon Ton name under new ownership until fire destroyed the building in 2002, and in 2006 the City of Kyle built a new city hall at this location.