Rockdale lost a piece of history in the early hours of Sunday morning when the roof of the long-vacant old McVoy Grocery & Feed building collapsed, likely because of recent heavy rains.
The roof collapse exposed the façade of the building and a huge crack on the Milam Street (south) wall. The front of the building was then knocked down to prevent it from collapsing onto Main Street.
Rockdale Volunteer Fire Department was toned at 5:09 a.m. and called the electric company to have the power shut off. Then firefighters put up barriers to keep people safely away.
Family member Lori McVoy also got calls, as there are a lot of people who don’t realize that the McVoy family has not owned the building since 1999 when it was sold to the Caulo-Graham Co. which also operated feed stores in Elgin and Giddings. The building is currently owned by Tonya Rodgers of Lexington.
HISTORY— The building was originally built as the three-story Mundine Hotel in 1880 by John Mundine of Lexington. He built it across the street from the depot along the International & Great Northern rail line to accommodate rail travelers. The hotel was destroyed by fire in 1888, killing 11 of the 13 guests. It was rebuilt as a two-story building and again destroyed by fire. Only the ground floor was reconstructed after the second fire.
Adolph McVoy bought the building in 1946 as a returning WWII D-Day veteran and ran McVoy Grocery & Feed for 64 years. The store had formerly been called Rockdale Poultry and Egg and in 1935 Adolph started working there when he was in high school.
“McVoy’s,” as it was known in Rockdale, was a family business owned by Adolph’s uncle, Bruce McVoy, with Alfred and Mae McVoy and their children, Adolph, his wife Hilda and sister Winnie McVoy. The building’s history is documented by a Texas Historical Marker.
SUNDAY MORNING— Lin Perry, with Perry & Perry Builders, was called at 5:40 a.m. by the RVFD and he brought a 10K Telemander to the site to push the façade of the building inward so it would not fall onto the street, a decision made by the fire department.
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