#GoodNewsFriday: South Side Alive
There is an illustrious history on the south side of Stamford’s square. It housed famed businesses like the Penick-Hughes Company at one end and Nat’s Café at the other. For most of my life, some businesses came and went on the south side. Sconce Plumbing, Cloud Insurance, and the Pink Ladies Thrift Store were mainstays, but the other buildings were dormant. When I was very young, Nat’s was Maggie’s (the best hamburger in town) but it closed in my childhood and has been vacant ever since. The Penick-Hughes was vacant as far back as my memory stretched. The Grand Theatre was closed, then re-opened, then closed again.
Today, the south side of the square is alive. The mainstays are still there. China Wok has operated successfully for close to a decade. The Grand Theatre has been restored in all its glory and has overcome the challenges of a pandemic to bring first-run movies to downtown Stamford. The Penick-Hughes Building now houses First State Bank and big plans are in the works for the remainder of the building. This week, Copenhagen Coffee House opened in the building that once housed Nat’s and Maggie’s. Vehicle and foot traffic on the south side of the square is busier than I have ever seen in my lifetime.
In many ways, the south side of the square mirrored the fast rise and slow decline of Stamford’s fortunes throughout the 20th and early 21st centuries. If the south side continues to mirror Stamford’s fortunes, then based on what has transpired in the last two years, we should be enthusiastic about Stamford’s fortunes in a bright future to come!
“Good News Friday” is a weekly feature spotlighting positive news and activities in the #StamfordTexas community as a part of our quest to build a #BetterStamford.