This story was originally posted on the Columbia Historical Museum’s website February 14, 2022. This Saturday, August 10, 2024, Chesney’s will be celebrating its 100th anniversary of being in business in West Columbia, Texas, with a party at the 1836 Pocket Park between the museum and Chesney’s in downtown West Columbia. There will be food, live music and prizes. The 100th Anniversary Celebration of Chesney’s will last from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Pocket Park.
By Tracy Gupton
Wives and girlfriends love nothing better for Valentine’s Day than jewelry. Flowers and candy are always appreciated but never as much as the sparkly baubles ladies love to show off on their fingers, wrists, earlobes or draped around their necks.
And specializing in providing the public those desirable items in West Columbia for most of the past century has been Chesney’s Jewelry. Now approaching its 98th year in business, Chesney’s first opened on August 10, 1924, just a short distance down West Columbia’s main street from the jewelry store’s present location at 241 East Brazos Avenue.
On February 19, 1940, Ernest and Virginia Chesney welcomed customers to the grand opening at their new store. Their former location just down the street remained open, selling home furnishings and appliances from 1940 to 1955.
Donna Loggins provided this photo of her parents, Ernest and Virginia Chesney, taken in 1940 on February 19th at the grand opening of their new store at 241 East Brazos Avenue in West Columbia. Donna Ruth Chesney was five years old when the jewelry store celebrated this grand opening 84 years ago.
Chesney’s current owner Donna Ruth Chesney Loggins was known as West Columbia’s “Boardwalk Baby” when she was born in November of 1934 at a time when the Chesneys lived in the back of their original jewelry store. In the early 20th century, West Columbia’s main street businesses had porches made of wood on either side of Brazos Avenue’s unpaved dirt road through town. Thus, the historic little town’s primary business district was referred to as the boardwalk.
Donna’s father, Ernest, borrowed $325 to purchase the original Chesney’s store from his stepfather, T.H. Causey, who taught Ernest the skill of watchmaking. Ernest married Virginia Brunner in 1930 and together the Chesneys continued to provide customers quality products and service for decades.
Donna Ruth Chesney was tabbed “The Boardwalk Baby” by customers of Chesney’s Jewelry Store when this photo was taken April 13, 1935, in downtown West Columbia. Ernest Chesney proudly displays his baby girl for the camera in front of Chesney’s original location on East Brazos Avenue on “the boardwalk.”
The Chesneys moved from the cramped living quarters in the back of their original store to a much larger home on South 17th Street in West Columbia where Donna’s “baby sister” Patricia “Tissie” Weems Schwebel was born on Christmas Eve in 1938. Tissie and her husband, retired veterinarian Bob Schwebel, still live in that house today.
Donna Ruth married her high school sweetheart, Burch Loggins, in January 1953. Both Chesney girls married veterinarians who graduated from Texas A&M University.
Donna Loggins provided this photo of her father, the late Ernest Chesney, who was pictured working in his Chesney’s Jewelry store in West Columbia. Chesney’s has been in business 100 years in 2024.
After the death of Ernest Chesney in 1966, his wife Virginia continued to run the business with her daughter, Donna Loggins, until Virginia decided to retire in 1977 and sold Chesney’s Jewelry to Donna and Burch Loggins. Donna Loggins said her parents added on to the back of their jewelry store in 1948 but, other than that expansion project, her family-owned and operated business has remained pretty much the same.
As its primary focus, jewelry has been a mainstay of the business. Donna Loggins now runs the store with the assistance of her daughter-in-law, Lynn Setzer Loggins.
Now in its 100th year in business on West Columbia’s main street, Chesney’s Jewelry is now operated by store owner Donna Ruth Chesney Loggins, left, and her daughter-in-law, Lynn Setzer Loggins. Donna Ruth, who will celebrate her 90th birthday later this year, invites all of her loyal customers to drop by this Saturday, August 10th, between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. for a 100th Anniversary Celebration at the 1836 Pocket Park between Chesney’s and the Columbia Historical Museum. [Photo by Tracy Gupton]