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Sears At 6550 Harrisburg Blvd.


robhan

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The Sears store on Harrisburg is mentioned several times on HAIF posts. Do a search for "Harrisburg Sears" with the above feature. Sanborn maps show it was built in 1946-47. It was right by my great-grandmothers house. Went there many times with her, and my grandmother.

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The Sears store on Harrisburg is mentioned several times on HAIF posts. Do a search for "Harrisburg Sears" with the above feature. Sanborn maps show it was built in 1946-47. It was right by my great-grandmothers house. Went there many times with her, and my grandmother.

I still remember sitting in the family car in that Sears parking lot hearing the Watergate proceedings/hearings while mom was shopping inside, so that really dates it... and me. :blush::)

This building was one of the finest examples of Sears design/layout ever. Had a great a great snacks/grill too! I can still smell the juicy hamburgers/fries. You could see all of the glass enclosed area all decorated in holiday decor this time of year.

"Memories; like the corners of my mind" :D

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I still remember sitting in the family car in that Sears parking lot hearing the Watergate proceedings/hearings while mom was shopping inside, so that really dates it... and me. :blush::)

This building was one of the finest examples of Sears design/layout ever. Had a great a great snacks/grill too! I can still smell the juicy hamburgers/fries. You could see all of the glass enclosed area all decorated in holiday decor this time of year.

"Memories; like the corners of my mind"

My Mother worked near there, and I can't tell you how many times we went there for school clothes, etc. They had a candy counter to die for . I can't say that I remember them having a grill, but I went there from 1960-73 - so I don't know.

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A friend of mine is convinced that there once was a Sears on Harrisburg. is he right?

Yes, there was a Sears store on the south side of Harrisburg at about the 69th Street area. Used to love to go there during the summer because it was air conditioned. Remember the store for other reasons, but, one thing I remember was the fact that they had an x-ray machine in the shoe department where you could look at your feet and see if the shoes you were getting where of the correct size or not. Of course, we very rarely got the luxury of getting new shoes but we still spent a lot of time looking at our feet through the viewing port. Folks were a bit more blaise about radiation in those days than they are now. That store was at that location for many years. It has been a long time since I remember being in that area so I have no idea what is occupying that site now. Curiously, I was looking up some other things that I remembered about the past when I came across and registered on this site. That Sears store is just one of many things in the East End that I have memories of. So much of the knowledge of the past history of that area is slowly being lost as the folks who lived there in times past fade from existence. Wander over to the Forest Park Cemetery and think about what some of those folks buried there could tell you about the history of Magnolia Park and the rest of the East End.

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Yes, there was a Sears store on the south side of Harrisburg at about the 69th Street area. Used to love to go there during the summer because it was air conditioned. Remember the store for other reasons, but, one thing I remember was the fact that they had an x-ray machine in the shoe department where you could look at your feet and see if the shoes you were getting where of the correct size or not. Of course, we very rarely got the luxury of getting new shoes but we still spent a lot of time looking at our feet through the viewing port. Folks were a bit more blaise about radiation in those days than they are now. That store was at that location for many years. It has been a long time since I remember being in that area so I have no idea what is occupying that site now. Curiously, I was looking up some other things that I remembered about the past when I came across and registered on this site. That Sears store is just one of many things in the East End that I have memories of. So much of the knowledge of the past history of that area is slowly being lost as the folks who lived there in times past fade from existence. Wander over to the Forest Park Cemetery and think about what some of those folks buried there could tell you about the history of Magnolia Park and the rest of the East End.

Harrisburg Plaza has occupied the old Sears site since it was demolished in the mid 80's.

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Wander over to the Forest Park Cemetery and think about what some of those folks buried there could tell you about the history of Magnolia Park and the rest of the East End.

Right on! :)

I believe most Sears stores had a small grill or eatery on the side like this one. Once they closed them they usually made it into a storage area or they became the spot for seasonal items like lawn mowers, etc. My little bro worked at this location in the early 80's. Closed shortly after. We never thought of taking any photos either. Rats!

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Right on! :)

I believe most Sears stores had a small grill or eatery on the side like this one. Once they closed them they usually made it into a storage area or they became the spot for seasonal items like lawn mowers, etc. My little bro worked at this location in the early 80's. Closed shortly after. We never thought of taking any photos either. Rats!

Ah ha...so that's what I was looking at the other day when I was checking out the South Main Sears store (east side). I remember the grill at the Harrisburg Sears...fed into the music dept. I wrote about it in another thread, boomerang formica table tops. I still can't believe they tore that East End Sears down. Would think it would have had enough business to sustain it. Pasadena Town Square is a long way to go for the closest one.

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  • 1 month later...

I've got a sneaky suspicion that the Harrisburg Sears was Architect Kenneth Franzheim's creation.

He has strong family ties (by marriage) to the East End, was married to a Simms daughter whose family mansion sat across from the (now Gus Wortham) golf course and previous Houston Country Club. They were located on Wayside, down the street from the Harrisburg Sears.

link to pic in "Life": http://images.google.com/hosted/life/l?img...:life%26hl%3Den

link to Franzheim biography: http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/...s/FF/ffr26.html

Says the Foleys bldg. downtown was one of his best-known.

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I've got a sneaky suspicion that the Harrisburg Sears was Architect Kenneth Franzheim's creation.

He has strong family ties (by marriage) to the East End, was married to a Simms daughter whose family mansion sat across from the (now Gus Wortham) golf course and previous Houston Country Club. They were located on Wayside, down the street from the Harrisburg Sears.

link to pic in "Life": http://images.google.com/hosted/life/l?img...:life%26hl%3Den

link to Franzheim biography: http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/...s/FF/ffr26.html

Says the Foleys bldg. downtown was one of his best-known.

You are correct.

Interesting that Sears used a local architect rather than Nimmons, Carr & Wright out of Chicago, who did their first two stores on Allen Parkway and South Main.

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You are correct.

Interesting that Sears used a local architect rather than Nimmons, Carr & Wright out of Chicago, who did their first two stores on Allen Parkway and South Main.

I pasted a pic of a Sears in Mexico City still booming as if new!Exterior is still all original Art Deco. Place was packed!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sears_Mexico

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Right on! :)

I believe most Sears stores had a small grill or eatery on the side like this one. Once they closed them they usually made it into a storage area or they became the spot for seasonal items like lawn mowers, etc. My little bro worked at this location in the early 80's. Closed shortly after. We never thought of taking any photos either. Rats!

It was a western themed restaurant I think I remember it being called The Stockade at the one in Pasadena, Wayside and downtown.

joe

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You are correct.

Interesting that Sears used a local architect rather than Nimmons, Carr & Wright out of Chicago, who did their first two stores on Allen Parkway and South Main.

The two Sears bldgs. you mention are two of my favorites. I would drive past the original one, and wonder "What did this used to be?" Just killed me to hear it was torn down. The detail work is what always caught my eye. Let's look at the first Houston Sears again.

link:

http://www.houstondeco.org/1920s/sears.html

& http://www.historichouston.org/newsite/ima...exas/index.html

Also, I've seen a pic of the Art Deco one in Mexico City, before, it's really nice.

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  • 8 months later...

A friend of mine is convinced that there once was a Sears on Harrisburg. is he right?

YES, IT IS WHERE THE STRIP CENTER IS AT HARRISBURG AND WAYSIDE AND GARCIA......WAS WITHIN WALKING DISTANCE OF WHERE WE LIVED.........HAD A BASEMENT..PAINT, TOOLS, ETC....CATALOG DEPARTMENT....A GREAT CANDY COUNTER AND REALLY REALLY GOOD FRESH POPPED POPCORN...........I WORKED THERE FOR 2 SUMMERS IN THE PAINT AND HARDWARE DEPT.....IT WAS ACROSS FROM EARLYS ON HARRISBURG, THE TELEPHONE CO BUILDING AND THE TRANSMISSION PLACE

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  • 1 year later...

On the Wayside side of the strip center, where the mural is, if you look closely at the bottom you'll see part of the old Sears store.

For some reason, the granite base was left intact. If memory serves, I believe the granite extends around the back of the building on Capitol St at Wayside.

Husband used to order his work shirts there, a dozen at a time. When that store closed, he was upset to have to go "all the way" to the Main St. store.

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Harrisburg Plaza has occupied the old Sears site since it was demolished in the mid 80's.

It is now Fallas Paredes (aims for a demographic level lower than family dollar), a check cashing place, Mi Doctor (my doctor), a subway, a wing place, a quincenera store, some music store, a payless shoes (i think), and a WIC Accepted Here store (I think). Ugh.

I remember when the sears was there. We used to go there too.

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  • 5 years later...

The Sears store on Harrisburg is mentioned several times on HAIF posts. Do a search for "Harrisburg Sears" with the above feature. Sanborn maps show it was built in 1946-47. It was right by my great-grandmothers house. Went there many times with her, and my grandmother.

Wow NenaE, A lot of my family including great & grandparents live in that area. We all shopped there a lot back in the day (70s & 80s).

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On the Wayside side of the strip center, where the mural is, if you look closely at the bottom you'll see part of the old Sears store.

For some reason, the granite base was left intact. If memory serves, I believe the granite extends around the back of the building on Capitol St at Wayside.

Husband used to order his work shirts there, a dozen at a time. When that store closed, he was upset to have to go "all the way" to the Main St. store.

Glad to see I'm not the only one to notice this. I was well aware of it since the strip center was completed. Always thought of it as a nod to the Sears store that had served the east end for so many years before. Like, gone but not forgotten.

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Yes, I lived close to the Sears. At Sherman and Wayside. I went there many times in the 1950's At Christmas time the toy section was huge. The electric trains display was great. Santa Claus would arrive in a helicopter that landed in the parking lot. And that transmission repair shop, was Frizzel Pontiac dealership.

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The Sears store on Harrisburg is mentioned several times on HAIF posts. Do a search for "Harrisburg Sears" with the above feature. Sanborn maps show it was built in 1946-47. It was right by my great-grandmothers house. Went there many times with her, and my grandmother.

 

Came across this ad from the Sam Houston High School yearbook from 1939 today

 

1939%2BSam%2Bhouston%2BSears%2BAd.PNG

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  • 2 years later...
  • 1 month later...
  • The title was changed to Sears At 6550 Harrisburg Blvd.

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