James H. Collard, a surveyor, opened a general store on this site in 1837. Four years later he sold the business to Thomas Collins (1800-1869). Members of the Collins family ran the store until 1890 when William Berry (b.1856) constructed the Pickwick Hotel. Two brothers, F.A. and J.H. Smith, bought the building in 1921. It was reopened as the Davy Crockett Hotel in 1927. During construction of a new courthouse (1938-39), it housed county offices. The Crockett Hotel Co. purchased the business in 1939. Ray and Alta Cornelius served as managers until a fire destroyed it in 1972. (1980)