Court Hardware Company

Court Hardware Company. . In the late 19th century, Italian immigrants came to the United States to escape poor economic conditions. Juliano DeCorte and his family emigrated from Sicily in 1877 and settled in Bryan. In 1917, his son-in-law Frank Cangelosi purchased several hundred acres in Stafford which included a cotton gin and a small store. In 1919, Charles Vincent (C.V.) DeCorte, Juliano's son, who later Americanized his name to Court, was encouraged to move to Stafford to operate the store., C.V. Court was soon joined in Stafford by his brother, Joseph Court, and brother-in-law, T.F. Noto, who together opened Court Bros. and Noto General Store. For a few years, all three families lived above the store. In 1929, Noto and Joseph Court sold their shares in the store to C.V. Court. The hardware store also served as a meeting place, with the community's only telephone in the store and post office boxes in the back., After two disastrous fires in 1932 and 1953, the family constructed a new, modern shopping center around the corner that included a drug store, food market, post office, and the Court Hardware Company. C.V. Court was on the first Stafford City Council in 1956 and was involved in organizing the first bank in town. When C.V. retired in 1960, he sold the store to his sons, Julius Charles (J.C.) Court and Charles Vincent Court Jr. The brothers moved the store to its present location in 1968. The store supported many local organizations and projects that benefitted the community and served as a gathering place where locals often talked politics. As an essential part of the Stafford economy, Court Hardware Company has offered goods and services to the community since its beginnings in the early 1900s and remains in the Court family.