Fuller’s Pharmacy (La Marque, TX) – Render Terry “R.T.” Fuller was born to parents Render Sr. and Mary P. Fuller in 1928. At the age of 26 he married Emily May McLane, and a year later in 1955 became Vice President of the La Marque Chamber of Commerce. It’s not clear in what year he first opened this pharmacy, located on Oak Street and paralleling the railroad tracks that run through town, but he and Emily lived in the adjoining residence which city records say was built in 1947. All indications are that Fuller’s Pharmacy was the place to go for all of your pharmacy and general shopping needs in La Marque during the 50s & 60s. The newspaper archives are littered with ads for their business and articles documenting the scores from their company bowling team as they took on other local businesses during this time period. In fact, I spotted newspaper ads as recently as July 1997. R.T passed on October 12, 2012 at the ripe old age of 84. The building that housed the pharmacy and the adjoining residence were both up for sale when I stumbled upon this place in early 2014. I was also able to dig up a little history about the Texas Neon Sign Company whose logo appears at the bottom of the sign face. That company was created when Dick V. Mitchell bought out his partner’s share of the Texas Manufacturing Company they founded together after WWII. Their specialty was neon spectaculars for drive-in theaters which could be seen all throughout the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, but they serviced retail businesses of all types throughout the region. By the early 1960s, Mitchell was widely considered one of the best glass blowers in the US and was well on his way to becoming the largest neon manufacturer in the Southwest.
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- Neon Signs
- Vintage Signs
