The Neelley - Patton House 701 West Main St., Olney, TX
This house was built for Andrew Bruce (1883-1953) and Minnie Alberta (Robinson) (1886-1961) Neelley in 1920. Mr. Neelley’s father R.B. Neelley and his brother A.C. came to Olney area in 1879 and were among the earliest settlers in this area and engaged in farming and ranching. Bruce became a hardware merchant as Ashworth-Neelley and in 1923 as Neelley Hardware. Mr. Neelley was one of the organizers of the Olney Retail Merchants Association and an early member of the Olney Chamber of Commerce. Mr. Neelley’s had three children – Cecil (1915-2010), Ione (Roy Thompson) (1907-1972), and Thora (1920-1988) (Gene Lowe). Gene and Thora had two sons to reach maturity – Kerry and Kenneth – who are large scale farmers in the area South and West of Olney.
