City of Greenville

City Of Greenville

  • <p>Courthouse square, ca. 1940. (TxDOT)</p> <p>Commercial district with courthouse to right and many cars, dated 1940</p>
  • <p>Downtown Greenville, 1929 (Hunt County Historical Commission)</p> <p>Commercial street scene with seven storey white building on left side of street</p>
  • <p>Sinclair Station on Lee Street, 1950 (Hunt County Historical Commission)</p> <p>Sinclair service station with one bay and three gas pumps under a driveway canopy</p>
  • <p>Audie Murphy/American Cotton Museum</p> <p>Museum exhibits with a large image of Audie Murphy on a postage stamp</p>

Greenville

As a rural agricultural community, Greenville remained relatively small until the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Extensions Railway arrived in the fall of 1880. Soon five different railway lines ran through town, and Greenville became a leading cotton marketing location. In 1913 a group of local business owners and county officials, along with the Booster Club, pitched in to pave the major entrances to the city, encouraging automobile traffic. The Bankhead Highway’s designation through Greenville followed soon after, when the 1917 Good Roads meeting in Mineral Wells laid out the highway’s “all-Texas” route. Traffic congestion became a problem by the 1940s, so the Bankhead was rerouted from the downtown commercial district to a four-lane divided expressway bypassing the town, the first of its kind along this road. When in town, stop at the Audie Murphy/American Cotton Museum to learn more about Greenville and its most decorated World War II veteran.

  • <p>J. Punk McNatt Motor Company</p> <p>Large curved building on corner with wall to wall windows and sign saying J.P. “Punk” McNutt Motor Co.</p>
  • <p>J. Punk McNatt Motor Company postcard (Boston Public Library)</p> <p>Colorized postcard of large curved building on corner with wall to wall windows, a covered parking area and sign saying J.P. “Punk” McNutt Motor Co. used cars. Labeled Olds Cadillac Greenville Texas Phone 147</p>

J. Punk McNatt Motor Company, 2401 Johnson St.

The streamlined features of this 1930s Moderne Style former auto‐dealership also appeared in vehicles of the same era. Sleek lines and subtle curves replaced the box-like buildings and became part of a marketing strategy to sell cars with style.

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Greenville Conventionand Visitors Bureau

2713 Stonewall St.
903-455-1510
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