Sadly, one of the defining characteristics of the store, its raised wooden floors, provided fuel that led to its demise.
While fire investigators are still trying to determine what caused the blaze, the Danek family has moved the business headquarters to a temporary location across the street, the old Eagle Bank building. About a year ago, the bank moved into a new building on Interstate 35. A bank executive offered the location as a temporary solution.
John Danek, part owner of the store, said the bank’s gesture is similar to gestures made by people throughout the community.
“The people here have been unbelievable,” he said. “I can’t express enough our gratitude for this community.”
From inside the old bank Dolly Danek, who with her husband, Emil, owns 52 percent of the business, looks out the window and sees the remains of her business, now mostly ash, burnt wood and twisted metal.
“It’s like losing a family member,” she said. “I know it’s just material things but there are so many memories. Our customers have been good to us. It’s hard, like a part of you is gone.”
It was more than just the wooden floors at the store that reminded folks here of another era. The only employees at the store were Daneks.
Emil, 74, purchased half the store from his father in 1962 and the other half in 1972. His four children now each own 12 percent shares in the company.
On Friday, John Danek was part of a crew cleaning up the site. The work began Thursday morning shortly after the insurance company released the property back to the family.
“I know we’re going to rebuild,” Emil said as he watched family members clear space on the property so deliveries could be made.
The fire was intense enough to endanger the bank and an auto repair store across the street, but a covered storage area the store uses for lumber storage is still intact.
“Anytime something like this happens, dark clouds gather,” Jarrell Police Chief Andres Gutierrez said. “But there have been rays of hope. It was a tragedy to have that place burn down, but if the wind would have been blowing, we could have lost houses or other businesses.”
John Danek, standing in a pile of ash, spoke about the wooden floors and how children would run on them because the sound was distinct. Cowboys from a nearby ranch used to come in the store wearing spurs on their boots.
“Spurs sounded good on that wood floor,” he said. “They made a ringing sound.”
In addition to lumber and tools, the store had a family collection of antiques, including an old saw and a covered wagon like the ones used by Texas pioneers.
“Newer people who moved here would say, ‘I have to bring my kids here,’” John said.
Just three weeks ago, part of the town’s centennial celebration was on the cement front porch of the business, which is just about all that is left of the main building.
“We’ll start over again,” Emil said Friday as he watched his grown children busily move burnt lumber from the ground into a large trash container.
It’s unclear how long it would take to rebuild the store.
The business opened around 1909 (the family is not quite sure of the date and there are no records available to verify it).
The fire opened up a skyline across North Fifth Street that the building had obscured for about 100 years. Now onlookers just look past all the rubble to see it.
Dolly Danek stood looking toward it and her great-granddaughter ran to her side and hugged her leg.
“I’m not going to cry, honey,” she said to the little girl.
