About Hancock Paducah Store

In 1952, Dorothy and William Hancock saw the need for a fabric store catering to small towns and carrying a large variety of fabrics and notions. They began their business, Hancock Fabric Center, in Batesville, Mississippi. Three years later William Hancock\'s brother, L.D., recognized the potential of his brother\'s business and began Hancock Textiles, catering first to dry goods stores that wished to expand to offer fabrics and notions to their customers in small towns in rural America. The concept blossomed into the national fabric chain Hancock Fabrics. As fate would have it, William Hancock died in an automobile accident in 1962. His death altered his and Dorothy\'s plans to expand their retail concept to other cities. Newly widowed, Dorothy raised her sons, Rowland and Rodney, in the fabric business. Dorothy always exhibited remarkable character. She grew up in Bristol England, an orphan from the age of 12. She lived through the Battle of Britain during World War II and met William Hancock during his tour of duty in the United States Army. After the death of her husband in 1962, she raised her two sons, Rowland and Rodney, and successfully ran her fabric business, Hancock Fabric Center, on Van Voris Avenue in Batesville, Mississippi until 1992. She retained her business relationship with her brother-in-law\'s business, Hancock Fabrics, in Tupelo, Mississippi as a wholesale customer. Three generations of customers in Northeastern Mississippi bought fabric for christen