This building is known today as the Wicker Tire Building, and was home to the R.B. Wicker Tire and Rubber Company starting in 1945. The building is currently vacant. It was purchased in 1945 by Rollin Blaine "R.B." Wicker, a New Mexico rancher, and remained under his and his son's control until at least 2011. The building is emblazoned with "R.B. Wicker" signage underneath the cornice around the building, and is one of El Paso's most recognizable downtown structures. It is one of the first buildings that greets eastbound drivers as they enter the downtown area on Paisano Drive. Wicker also owned New Mexico's Cornudas Cattle Company, and maintained an office in the rear of the building to manage his ranch. There is a "Cornudas Cattle Company" sign painted over the northeast main entrance of the structure.
The building was erected in 1912-1913 for the Western Woodware Company, a firm that sold "paper goods, school supplies, wooden ware and galvanized ware" (quoting an ad in the 1920 El Paso City Directory). Interestingly, they ran a newspaper ad in 1913 selling cars, too. In early 1912, the business was purchased by Edward D. Lachman, who immediately announced that he would double the size of the operation by building a new structure.
Lachman hired new El Paso architect Otto Thorman to design the building. Thorman, a young Albuquerque architect that had moved to El Paso the previous year, welcomed this commission as his first El Paso commercial design, adding to the building's historical significance. Thorman, of course, became one of El Paso's most important Architects through a storied career that lasted over 40 years and provided El Paso with some of its most significant residential designs.
The construction of the building was marred by the tragic death of a painter, George Alston, who fell from a scaffolding in January 1913 while painting a sign on one of the upper floors. Nevertheless, it was completed mid-1913 and occupied by Western Woodware under its name, and the name "Graham Paper Company", until at least 1922.
The building is a simple Commercial design, and is very reminiscent of Thorman's 1916 Zelman Building (Overland @ Stanton, the Savoy Lofts) and his John Mulligan Building at Campbell and Mills, also erected in 1916. It is a three-story warehouse, with a basement, built with reinforced concrete and brick. The erection cost was around $16,000 and the entire building was completed in less than 9 months. Although vacant, it is in good repair and does not appear to be deteriorating. It definitely gives its Union Plaza neighborhood a historical flair.
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Text, research and modern photography provided to sketchclub.net by Mark Stone. This historical narrative is derived from newspaper articles and City Directory entries accessed through the Library of Congress' Chronicling America project at https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ and the University of North Texas (Denton) Digital Archives at https://texashistory.unt.edu/, and period Sanborn Maps available at the University of Texas Libraries at http://legacy.lib.utexas.edu/maps/sanborn/e.html.
Also citing:
-- Wikipedia, "Otto H. Thorman", staff and contributors, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Otto_H._Thorman
-- Tom Wicker Jr., grandson of R.B. Wicker, in a blog post dated 08/20/2011 at the Fading Ad Blog (https://www.fadingad.com/fadingadblog/2009/11/07/rb-wicker-tire-rubber-co-cornudas-cattle-co-el-paso-tx/)
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| Photograph taken by Mark Stone 11/02/2020 |
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| Photograph taken by Mark Stone 11/02/2020 |
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| Photograph taken by Mark Stone 11/02/2020 |
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| Photograph taken by Mark Stone 11/02/2020 |
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| Photograph taken by Mark Stone 11/02/2020 |
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| Photograph taken by Mark Stone 11/02/2020 |
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| Photograph taken by Mark Stone 11/02/2020 |
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| Photograph taken by Mark Stone 11/02/2020 |
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| Photograph taken by Mark Stone 11/02/2020 |
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| Photograph taken by Mark Stone 11/02/2020 |
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| Photograph taken by Mark Stone 11/02/2020 |
