William Monroe Patton

Aldrich's 1943 history of Houston County says the brick courthouse was destroyed in 1865 and the county had none for about four years. Courts sat in a building owned by L. E. Downes on the southwest corner of the square, where the building erected by W. M. Patton stood in 1943. A lumber courthouse went up about 1869 and burned in November 1882. The Houston County TXGenWeb page on Crockett adds that the 1865 fire took most of the town and with it most of the county's early records.

What the plaque says

William Monroe Patton (1855-1915) William Monroe Patton moved to Crockett from Tadmor in 1899 after the death of his brother James H. Patton, with whom he owned a dry goods store. William purchased property on the southwest corner of the public square in Crockett and built a brick structure for his general merchandise business. He constructed six one-story buildings on what became known as Patton Block. William married Flora Elizabeth Gause (1869-1957) and had four children. Recorded - 1996

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Caddo Mounds State Historic Site — 27 mi
  Three earthen mounds of an ancestral Caddo village and ceremonial center on the old El Camino Real, settled about A.D. 800 and still sacred to Caddo people, with a grass house and visitor center.

More markers nearby

• Glenwood Cemetery — steps away
• George G. Alford — steps away
• Samuel Fisher Tenney — steps away
• Armistead Albert Aldrich — steps away