Thomas O'Connell was born December 21st, 1844, in Dungarvan, County Waterford, Ireland. He married Mary Flynn and they immigrated to New York in the early 1860’s. Thomas then traveled to Green Bay to work for the Chicago Northwestern Railroad. Mary followed and they settled in Sands Township in 1870. Thomas served the railroad as Section Boss and he and Mary operated the boarding house for the railroad workers, sometimes as many as 20 men a day. After 17 years in Sands and upon meeting Frank VanCleve and hearing that the Soo Line Railroad was interested in a rail and flour port terminal in 1887 in Gladstone, they invested in one of the first grocery stores at 616 Delta Avenue. The store supplied the ships at the Soo Line Dock and the community.
In 1895, Thomas built a Dry Goods Store at 726 Delta Avenue, with a 13-room living quarters above for their family of eleven.
Thomas passed away in 1909 and Mary continued to operate the Dry Goods store. Three days before Christmas in 1918, a fire broke out in an adjacent building in the 700 block, causing a great deal of damage from smoke and water. The properties were then sold in 1919, and Mary moved to Hibbing, Minnesota to be with her daughter Dottie Power.
The Dry Goods Store, known as the O'Connell Building, was purchased by the Atlantic-Pacific Tea Company of Milwaukee.
The O'Connell's served the City of Gladstone for over 30 years.
Mary O'Connell operated the new store traveling often to Chicago and New York so she could offer the people of Gladstone the latest fashions.
In 1919, the Dry Goods Store, known as the O'Connell Building, was purchased by the Atlantic-Pacific Tea Company of Milwaukee and C.E. Anderson managed the store.