H.H. Dailey and Co.
H.H. Dailey and Co.
H.H. Dailey bought the T.S. Kent business in 1910 when it was in the location now occupied by Wilma Weaver’s Custom Draperies Shop.
H.H. Dailey operated the business as a single proprietor until 1919 when Dan F. Hill returned home from World War 1. At that time a partnership was formed between H.H. Dailey, Mrs. Henry (Leoti) Dailey and Dan F. Hill.
This business was moved from the east addition to the Darsey building in block 4, lot 1 (now the drive-in area of the First State Bank). Dailey’s store was closed in the 40’s and the family interest was centered in the Chevrolet business that had been started by H.H. Dailey.
H.H. Dailey and Balis E. Dailey started Grapeland Motor Co. in 1927 at the present-day site of the U.S. Post Office. They were dealers for the Chevrolet Company and also operated a garage and filling station. H.H. Dailey had the Chevrolet dealership in Grapeland, Crockett, and Lovelady. In 1928, he sold more cars than had ever been sold before.
In 1929 when the depression and economic crash came, the people who had purchased cars could not pay for them. Mr. Dailey simply told his customers to keep their cars and pay for them later when you are able.
H.H. Dailey died in 1934, but the record he set in 1928 held until after the end of World War 2. H.H. Dailey was a trader who would trade for anything.
After the death of her father, Ruth Ellen Dailey became the driver of the business. She bought out the interest of B.E. Dailey in 1937 and built a new building in 1939. She built a carwash in 1940 and also purchased the lots west of the motor company for a car lot. She built the store building in the lot next to the carwash.
Soon after World War 2, Ruth Ellen Dailey who had served in the armed force ferrying airplanes from one location to another, moved to Arizona and Arthur Walton, Jr. managed the motor company for her until 1975.
In 1975, Bill Rogers bought the Grapeland Motor Company. Soon after this purchase, the building burned and Rogers moved the business to its present location on the loop, east of Grapeland. It is now known as Bill Rogers Chevrolet.