[houston1973]

I was just wondering and i have good old pics of these but does anyone know the locations of the original Foley Bros Dry Goods later Foley Bros department store then Foleys'
I know they used to be at 506 main in the Slainte bar by Praire. They were also at a building which is no longer there by the building occupied by Live Sports Cafe. I was told they were also at the building occupied by Twelve Spot bar. I know for a fact the first 2 are correct but does anyone know of the others espcially when it was called Foley Bros Dry Goods. thanks and ill post old Foley Bros picture from Main and Preston-Praire

[Gilder]

houston1973, on Wednesday, November 8th, 2006 @ 1:04pm, said:

I was just wondering and i have good old pics of these but does anyone know the locations of the original Foley Bros Dry Goods later Foley Bros department store then Foleys'
I know they used to be at 506 main in the Slainte bar by Praire. They were also at a building which is no longer there by the building occupied by Live Sports Cafe. I was told they were also at the building occupied by Twelve Spot bar. I know for a fact the first 2 are correct but does anyone know of the others espcially when it was called Foley Bros Dry Goods. thanks and ill post old Foley Bros picture from Main and Preston-Praire

"Another Spire project is in the same block of Main as the McCrory Building. 509 Main St. is a Romanesque Revival building that was once home to the Foley Bros. Dry Goods Co. "

This statement was found at http://www.ghpa.org/...2003/spire.html

[gonzo1976]

Not sure if this is where Twelve Spot Bar is located, but the W.L. Foley Dry Goods Co. building was located at 214-218 Travis. The Houston Architectural Guide says it was built in 1889 and designed by Eugene T. Heiner. The Post described the store as "magnificent" and "palatial" at the time.

[houston1973]

yea i got the one for 509 and where 12spot on the corner of preston and travis by the Hermann Building is another.

houston1973, on Wednesday, November 8th, 2006 @ 7:55pm, said:

yea i got the one for 509 and where 12spot on the corner of preston and travis by the Hermann Building is another.

here is the one on travis which is the twelve spot building 214 travis

houston1973, on Wednesday, November 8th, 2006 @ 7:55pm, said:

yea i got the one for 509 and where 12spot on the corner of preston and travis by the Hermann Building is another.

here is the one on travis which is the twelve spot building 214 travis


Photographs by Hester + Hardaway, copyright 1996
214 Travis Street
W. L. Foley Dry Goods Company Building
1889, Eugene T. Heiner


The Foley Dry Goods Company store is a rare survivor of Victorian Houston. Fortune tested its will to survival with serious fires in 1976 and 1989. But the determination of architect Guy Hagstette, gallery owner Doug Lawing, restaurateurs Jamie Mize and Dan Tidwell, and preservation doyenne Minnette B. Boesel has overcome Houston's unwillingness to treat its past with respect. They saved the Foley Building and Hagstette designed a pair of apartments on the second floor (with potential for more apartments on the third floor) that maintain an admirable balance between domestic accommodation and architectural preservation. Next door at 220 Travis, artist Lee Benner is pursuing preservation of the shell of a part of the Foley Building, while on the other side developer Doug Crosson and Minnette Boesel have kicked off the transformation of the Hermann Estate Building (1917, F. S. Glover & Sons) into apartments. The sidewalk canopy along Travis is a reminder of what all of downtown Houston was once like.

[houston1973]

[edit] Timeline
1900: Foley Brothers was opened by brothers Pat and James Foley, two young and enterprising Irishmen, on February 12 with $2000 borrowed from an uncle. The 1400-square-foot store located at 507 Main Street in Houston, Texas, was stocked with calico, linen, lace, pins, needles, and men’s furnishings.

1905: With business booming, Pat and James purchased the building next door and added ready-to-wear clothing for women and children as well as millinery.

1911: The store moved to the 400 block of Main Street and was incorporated with capital of $150,000.

1916: Foley Brothers ranked third in retail volume in Houston with $400,000 in sales. The original 10 employees had grown to 150, and the company had 750 active charge accounts and 23,000 square feet of space.

1917: Pat and James sold Foley Brothers to George S. Cohen and George’s father, Robert, a Galveston merchant. Foley Bros. grew tremendously under this new management and by 1919, sales neared $1,000,000.

1922: Foley Bros. moved into a three-story building next door to 400 Main Street. Later that year, the store became the city’s largest department store. Shoes, a beauty shop, and radio sets were included.

1941: When the United States entered World War II, Foley Bros. diverted the efforts of the advertising and personnel departments to bond drives and other wartime services. All sales promotions were suspended during this time.

1945: Federated Department Stores president Fred Lazarus, Jr., came to Houston to visit his son, who was stationed at a nearby Army camp. Mr. Lazarus discovered that Foley Bros. was for sale and bought it.

1947: Now part of Federated, Foley’s opened its doors at 1110 Main Street on October 20. Federated spent $13 million to build this new store, which was heralded by the press as the nation’s “most modern department store.”

1951: The first official Foley’s Thanksgiving Day Parade was held.

1960-1967: Sharpstown, Foley’s first branch store opened. Pasadena, Almeda-Genoa, and Northwest stores soon followed.

1974-1979: Memorial City and Greenspoint opened in Houston, and Highland opened in Austin.

1980-1987: San Jacinto, North Star, Willowbrook, Barton Creek, West Oaks, Ingram Park, Deerbrook, Post Oak, and Corpus Christi opened.

1987: Houston-based Foley’s, a division of Federated, merged with another Federated division, Dallas-based Sanger-Harris. The Downtown Houston store at 1110 Main Street became the divisional headquarters.

1988: The May Department Stores Company acquired Foley’s in Houston and Filene's in Boston from Federated.

1993: The May D&F division in Colorado and New Mexico was consolidated with Foley’s, creating a 49-store division that was the largest in May Company.

1995-1998: Temple, Northwest Austin, Sugar Land, Northwest Albuquerque, Laredo, and Park Meadows opened. Fort Collins reopened after extensive remodeling. Purchased Jones & Jones in McAllen, Texas, and converted to Foley's.

2000-2004: NorthPark, Broomfield, Hurst, Baybrook Mall, Beaumont, Cielo Vista, Houston Galleria, Lake Charles, Denton, and Sunland opened. Foley’s acquired one McRae's store and two Parisian stores in Louisiana. Cortana and the Mall of Louisiana in Baton Rouge and Acadiana in Lafayette joined Foley’s. Memorial City and Baybrook reopened in new buildings.

2004: The May Department Stores Company acquired Marshall Field's, which was headquartered in Minneapolis, Minn. May’s seven divisions now included Foley’s, Filene's, Robinsons-May, Famous-Barr, Hecht's, Lord & Taylor, and Marshall Field's.

2005: La Cantera, Garland, and Loveland opened. May and Federated Department Stores, Inc. announced plans to merge. The transaction closed in the third quarter.

2006: On February 1, 2006, the Foley's organization in Houston was dissolved and operation of its locations in Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas (except El Paso) were assumed by Atlanta-based Macy's South while operation of locations in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and El Paso, Texas were assumed by San Francisco-based Macy's West. On September 9, 2006, the Foley's nameplate was replaced as part of Macy's nationwide rebranding of all former May Company locations.

[neuman]

gonzo1976, on Wednesday, November 8th, 2006 @ 5:30pm, said:

Not sure if this is where Twelve Spot Bar is located, but the W.L. Foley Dry Goods Co. building was located at 214-218 Travis. The Houston Architectural Guide says it was built in 1889 and designed by Eugene T. Heiner. The Post described the store as "magnificent" and "palatial" at the time.

W.L. Foley Dry Goods was not Foley Bros., and Foley Bros. was never at this location. I believe, however, that he was the uncle that loaned Pat and James the money.

On a side note, the buildings were built in 1860 and remodelled by Heiner in 1889.

[Vertigo58]

houston1973, on Wednesday, November 8th, 2006 @ 8:24pm, said:

[edit] Timeline
1900: Foley Brothers was opened by brothers Pat and James Foley, two young and enterprising Irishmen, on February 12 with $2000 borrowed from an uncle. The 1400-square-foot store located at 507 Main Street in Houston, Texas, was stocked with calico, linen, lace, pins, needles, and men's furnishings.

1905: With business booming, Pat and James purchased the building next door and added ready-to-wear clothing for women and children as well as millinery.

1911: The store moved to the 400 block of Main Street and was incorporated with capital of $150,000.

1916: Foley Brothers ranked third in retail volume in Houston with $400,000 in sales. The original 10 employees had grown to 150, and the company had 750 active charge accounts and 23,000 square feet of space.

1917: Pat and James sold Foley Brothers to George S. Cohen and George's father, Robert, a Galveston merchant. Foley Bros. grew tremendously under this new management and by 1919, sales neared $1,000,000.

1922: Foley Bros. moved into a three-story building next door to 400 Main Street. Later that year, the store became the city's largest department store. Shoes, a beauty shop, and radio sets were included.

1941: When the United States entered World War II, Foley Bros. diverted the efforts of the advertising and personnel departments to bond drives and other wartime services. All sales promotions were suspended during this time.

1945: Federated Department Stores president Fred Lazarus, Jr., came to Houston to visit his son, who was stationed at a nearby Army camp. Mr. Lazarus discovered that Foley Bros. was for sale and bought it.

1947: Now part of Federated, Foley's opened its doors at 1110 Main Street on October 20. Federated spent $13 million to build this new store, which was heralded by the press as the nation's "most modern department store."

1951: The first official Foley's Thanksgiving Day Parade was held.

1960-1967: Sharpstown, Foley's first branch store opened. Pasadena, Almeda-Genoa, and Northwest stores soon followed.

1974-1979: Memorial City and Greenspoint opened in Houston, and Highland opened in Austin.

1980-1987: San Jacinto, North Star, Willowbrook, Barton Creek, West Oaks, Ingram Park, Deerbrook, Post Oak, and Corpus Christi opened.

1987: Houston-based Foley's, a division of Federated, merged with another Federated division, Dallas-based Sanger-Harris. The Downtown Houston store at 1110 Main Street became the divisional headquarters.

1988: The May Department Stores Company acquired Foley's in Houston and Filene's in Boston from Federated.

1993: The May D&F division in Colorado and New Mexico was consolidated with Foley's, creating a 49-store division that was the largest in May Company.

1995-1998: Temple, Northwest Austin, Sugar Land, Northwest Albuquerque, Laredo, and Park Meadows opened. Fort Collins reopened after extensive remodeling. Purchased Jones & Jones in McAllen, Texas, and converted to Foley's.

2000-2004: NorthPark, Broomfield, Hurst, Baybrook Mall, Beaumont, Cielo Vista, Houston Galleria, Lake Charles, Denton, and Sunland opened. Foley's acquired one McRae's store and two Parisian stores in Louisiana. Cortana and the Mall of Louisiana in Baton Rouge and Acadiana in Lafayette joined Foley's. Memorial City and Baybrook reopened in new buildings.

2004: The May Department Stores Company acquired Marshall Field's, which was headquartered in Minneapolis, Minn. May's seven divisions now included Foley's, Filene's, Robinsons-May, Famous-Barr, Hecht's, Lord & Taylor, and Marshall Field's.

2005: La Cantera, Garland, and Loveland opened. May and Federated Department Stores, Inc. announced plans to merge. The transaction closed in the third quarter.

2006: On February 1, 2006, the Foley's organization in Houston was dissolved and operation of its locations in Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas (except El Paso) were assumed by Atlanta-based Macy's South while operation of locations in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, and El Paso, Texas were assumed by San Francisco-based Macy's West. On September 9, 2006, the Foley's nameplate was replaced as part of Macy's nationwide rebranding of all former May Company locations.

Guess, I can be kind of proud to say my own older cousin was a Santa Claus at Foley's - Main St. for at least 2 years. I am sure 1971 for sure because my niece and I are in a photo with him. That is the days when Foley's went all the way with animated elves and trains, etc not only in Santas Village upstairs but in several display windows. I recall it like yesterday. We stood in a long and winding line that went pretty far but it was worth it! As you waitied in line, you had the whole snow covered North Pole before you with clear color wrapped giant popsicles & candy canes. Sound effects and all. That is the days when going downtown was extremely exciting we thought it was like going to Times Square in New York City. It seemed so cosmopolitan. Sure miss the glamour of downtown. A bygone era.

[musicman]

rnsdr, on Monday, January 8th, 2007 @ 12:23pm, said:

Guess, I can be kind of proud to say my own older cousin was a Santa Claus at Foley's - Main St. for at least 2 years. I am sure 1971 for sure because my niece and I are in a photo with him. That is the days when Foley's went all the way with animated elves and trains, etc not only in Santas Village upstairs but in several display windows.

was there a parade where you rode on a train through downtown?