The Kent Mercantile Company

The following is the catalogue entry from the Southwest Collection at Texas Tech University for their manuscripts on the Kent Mercantile Company, a general-store type emporium that existed until 1969. For information about access to these holdings, click here.

635. Kent Mercantile Company (Kent County, Texas)
Records, 1925-1969
59,620 leaves

 This collection is arranged by business divisions: Camp Kent (1929-1960); Kent Cafe (1934-1967); Kent Mercantile Company (1925-1969); Kent Station (1931-1969); Kent Wool Warehouse (1927-1957); Reynolds Land and Cattle Company (1926-1956); and W. D. Reynolds Trust (1922-1945). The collection bulks with financial materials and, to a lesser degree, correspondence and legal material. The records reflect the impact of both the Depression years and World War II. Also included are photographs, negatives, printed material, and scrapbook material.

The mercantile store was established in 1909 in Kent County, Texas, and, in 1925, the store became a subsidiary of the Reynolds Land and Cattle Company of Fort Worth, Texas. The company was expanded to handle food, clothing, hardware, automotive supplies, feed, a motel, tourist camp, and a restaurant. In 1939, a wool warehouse was also added.