New encyclopedia of Texas, volume 1, Part 68

Author: Davis, Ellis A.
Publication date: 1926
Publisher: Dallas, Tex. : Texas development bureau, [1926?]
Number of Pages: 1416

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Fred Harris is a native of Texas, born in Van Alstyne, Texas. His father, Fred Harris, a native of Virginia, came to Texas in the early '60s as en- gineer in charge of construction of the Houston and Texas Central Railroad, and was also active as a civil engineer until his death. His mother, whose maiden name was Miss Bessie Dabney, a native of Virginia, is also deceased. Mr. Harris obtained his education in the schools of Dallas, beginning his banking career at an early age, and is largely a self-made man. His first employment was with the City National Bank at Dallas, where he re- ceived his banking training under such men as E. O. Tenison and E. M. Reardon, who were at that time at the head of the City National Bank. After leaving the City National Bank Mr. Harris engaged in contracting in Houston in 1912 and 1913, later re- turning to Dallas when the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas was organized.

Mr. Harris was married at Dallas, Texas, the 19th of December, 1902, to Miss Julia Paden, a na- tive Texan. Mr. and Mrs. Harris have two children, Fred Harris, Jr., with the American Exchange Na- tional Bank of Dallas, and Arch Harris, a student at Texas A. & M College. Mr. Harris is very well known and popular in business circles of Houston and Texas, and while his friends in South Texas rejoice in his promotion, yet his removal from Hous- ton was greatly regretted by his many friends.

358

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Hw. Rice

NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS

ILLIAM P. HOBBY. Perhaps in the history of his generation, there is no man better known to the people of Texas than is Wil- liam P. Hobby, of Houston, newspaper and business man, and ex-governor of the Lone Star State. A native Texan, Mr. Hobby started his career in the business world asa young man with the Hous- ton Post as subscription clerk and remained with that well known daily paper for a period of twelve years, during which period he worked his way up through the various branches. In 1907 he severed his connection with the Houston Post and went to Beaumont, Texas, as president, publisher and gen- eral manager of the Beaumont Enterprise, remain- ing in this capacity until he was elected governor of Texas. Mr. Hobby was the twenty-sixth governor of the state, serving in the highest office within the gift of the people of Texas from 1917 to 1921. After leaving the governor's chair, he returned to Beau- mont, operating his well known newspaper until 1922, when he came to Houston in order to engage in the insurance business. With Mr. George R. Christie, he organized the Oilmen's Reciprocal Asso- ciation, later absorbed by the Security Union Cas- ualty Company, and the Lumbermen's Reciprocal As- sociation, two of the largest and strongest organ- izations of their kind in the Southwest. Forty peo- ple compose the staff in the offices of these com- panies, which occupy the entire fourth floor of the Great Southern Life Building, at Houston, Texas. These insurance companies do business in all states where there is a compensation law. The business of these firms has had a phenomenal growth. In addi- tion to his interests in these companies, Mr. Hobby is interested in many enterprises of Houston, Beau- mont and other parts of Texas. He is a director of the First National Bank of Beaumont, and is an officer and stockholders in various other banks of Southwest Texas, where he is well known and re- garded as a keen executive and financier. Since locating in Houston, Mr. Hobby joined Mr. R. S. Sterling of Houston in the purchase of the Houston Post-Dispatch, and is president of the publishing company. The Post-Dispatch has the largest news- paper plant in this section of Texas, publishing a morning paper, with the largest home delivered cir- culation in Houston. The Houston Post-Dispatch's twenty-two story building completed in January, 1926, is probably the finest office building owned by publishers of any newspaper in Texas. The execu- tive offices and downtown business offices are main- tained in this building, while the publishing plant is housed in the new and modern structure recently erected at Polk and Dowling. Mr. Hobby is also a director and stockholder in the Interstate Trust Company, of Dallas, which is engaged in financing home building in a number of the small cities of Texas.

Mr. Hobby was born in Polk County on March 26th, 1878. His father, Judge Edwin Hobby, came to Texas from Florida in 1860. He settled in Tyler County, where he engaged in the practice of law. In 1876, he removed to Polk County, and later to Harris County, where he continued to reside until his death in Houston in 1899. Judge Hobby was state senator, district judge and judge of the Com- mission of Appeals of Texas, and a leader in the legal profession of the Southwest in his day, and many of the pioneers of Texas remember him as a

beacon light of the legal profession. His mother, Mrs. Dora (Pettus) Hobby, a native of Virginia, was brought to Texas when a child by her parents and was reared and educated here. Her father, John R. Pettus, a physician and a pioneer settler of Fort Bend County, was also engaged in farming, ranching and cattle raising and was one of the prominent citizens of that county. Mr. Hobby's education was obtained in the public schools of Polk County, and a short time after his parents removed to Houston, he was a student of the public schools here, which he left at an early age in order to engage in newspaper work, which he has continued at intervals through- out his life. The longest period in which he was not directly in charge of newspaper work was while serving the state of Texas as its chief executive, and his regime as governor marked an epoch in Texas history. He was war governor, during the great World War, and prohibition, woman suffrage, the Open Port Law and other important measures were enacted during his administration.

Mr. Hobby was married at New Orleans, Louis- iana, on May 15th, 1915, to Miss Willie Cooper, a native Texan and a daughter of Hon. S. B. Cooper (deceased) of Beaumont, who for many years served as a member of Congress from the Beaumont dis- trict. Judge Cooper was one of the leaders in the legal circles of Texas, and distinbuished himself as a jurist and a statesman. Mr. Hobby is a mem- ber of the A. F. and A. M., is a 32nd degree Scot- tish Rite Mason, and a Shriner of El Mina Temple of Galveston. He is a member of the Beaumont Club, the Beaumont Country Club, the Houston Coun- try Club, the Houston Club and many other of the state's business and social organizations, in which he takes an active interest. Since locating in Hous- ton, Mr. Hobby has become a part of the business life of this city, being associated with practically every laudable enterprise that has been brought before the public since that time. Mr. Hobby is a leader in the journalistic circles of the country and is perhaps the best known journalist of the South- west, as well as one of the most progressive and enterprising citizens.

HE KIRBY INVESTMENT COMPANY was chartered in 1919, to operate in real estate, building, loans and investments in Harris and Dallas Counties.

The officers of the Kirby Investment Company are: John H. Kirby, president; John G. Logue, of the law firm of Andrews, Streetman, Logue and Mobley, vice president; J. F. B. Rawcliffe, vice president of the Kirby Lumber Company, and treasurer of Kirby Petroleum Company, secretary and treasurer; E. V. Clark, assistant secretary-treasurer, and R. E. Jordan, manager.

The main office of the company is in the Kirby Lumber Company Building, Houston, and the Dal- las office is located at 628 Kirby Building.

The company owns very desirable downtown busi- ness property in both Houston and Dallas. The most important holding is the Kirby Building of sixteen stories of Gothic architecture located at the corner of Main and Akard Streets in the heart of Dallas. The Kirby Building is managed by Mr. P. L. Garth, who has had over fourteen years' experience in operating office buildings and who at present is one of the directors of the Southern Association of Building Owners and Managers.

361

MEN OF TEXAS

BALDWIN RICE, cattle man, and native Houstonian, has, throughout his life, been closely identified with the social, civic, com- mercial, educational and political life of his city. He has practically retired from active business pursuits, and is only looking after his personal busi- ness, and maintains an office for this purpose at 910 Union National Bank Building, at Houston. Mr. Rice engaged in the cattle business soon after leav- ing college, and has since that time been engaged in this industry, along with his many other in- terests. Although he served the city for many years as Mayor, and Harris County for many years as Public Weigher of Cotton and as County Com- missioner, and in the annals of the history of the City and County, there has probably been no other man who has accomplished more along progressive lines than has H. Baldwin Rice. He is reticent about giving any information regarding himself, and any- thing that he may have accomplished, saying that if he had done any good for Houston and Harris County, that it would speak for itself. His first public office was that of Public Weigher of Cotton for Harris County, and he held this office until 1896. From 1892 to 1896, he was one of the County Commissioners of Harris County, and, during this time, the first highway in the County was paved, along with many other improvements. Mr. Rice was elected Mayor of Houston for the first time in 1896, and re-elected to this important City posi- tion again in the following years, 1905, 1907, 1909 and 1911. During his administration as Mayor, he contributed greatly to the growth of the City, and has left a monument of life-time work in the na- ture of a great city and his name will go into the History of Texas as one of its builders. During his regime as Mayor the city had one of the lowest tax rates, this being one and one-half, and at the same time making all kinds of improvements, many schools were built and many streets paved, two high schools, the North Side and the South Side. The Main Street Viaduct was also built, which is regarded as one of the greatest accomplishments for the City of Houston. He bought the Water Works for the City, while Mayor, and reduced the water rate from 40 cents to 15 cents, and was, in reality, the father of the paving plan, which paved Houston streets. Houston today enjoys very little that was not accomplished or begun during the Rice administration, and, instead of becoming Mayor as a poor man, and leaving the office rice, he went in rich and came out worth a great deal less then when becoming Mayor. Mr. Rice has, as Mayor and as private citizen, worked incessantly for the good of his city and state. He was one of the original builders of the Ship Channel and gave of both his time and means to make it a reality. Many capi- talists were entertained by him and shown over the ship channel, and for these boats and enter- tainments, Mr. Rice paid personally, and spent of his means in other ways to further the project that made his native city the Deep Water City of Texas, where the largest ocean-going vessels from all parts of the world, fly their flags and bring the world's commerce to the lap of Houston, and pour from their horns of plenty, commodities of every kind. In 1901 Mr. Rice was appointed by the Probate Court ad- ministrator for the estate of his uncle, the late William M. Rice, out of which grew the magnifi-

cent Rice Institute, the largest endowed College in the world, and, although a comparatively young college, its reputation has spread to the four cor- ners of the country, and students from practically every State in the Union are attracted to Houston by this great seat of learning, where courses of every kind may be completed, and the generations which are able to attend such a college as the Rice Institute, of Houston, are, indeed, fortunate. For many years Mr. Rice took an active interest in Texas politics and always stood for good govern- ment. He was a delegate to the National Demo- cratic Convention in 1900 and 1916.

Mr. Rice was born on March 28th, 1861. His father, F. A. Rice (deceased since 1901) was one of the early settlers of Texas, coming to this State from Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1850. He was a pioneer merchant and planter of the Brazos River Valley. Later, he was for many years Treasurer of the Houston and Texas Central Railroad, and still later was engaged in the Banking business in Houston, and was one of the original trustees of the Rice Institute. His mother was Miss Charlotte M. Baldwin, a daughter of Horace Baldwin, Mayor of Houston in the early days, and was a brother-in- law of A. C. Allen, one of the founders of Houston. Her paternal ancestors were the founders of Bald- winsville, New York. Mr. Rice's family is of old Revolutionary stock, sprung from the sturdy Scotch- Irish and English pioneers of Colonial days in America. His great-grandfather Hall was one of the wounded at the battle of Lexington in 1775, but despite the fact that he received this wound, he lived to reach the age of one hundred and two years, dying in the State of Massachusetts at that age. Mr. Rice's four brothers, J. S., B. B., Dave and W. M. are prominent business men of Houston, and are well-known throughout the State. Another brother, F. A., lives in the Rio Grande Valley.

Mr. Rice was married at Houston in 1883 to Miss Georgia Dumble, a daughter of George Dumble, a native of Canada, who came to Houston in 1850, and was always prominent in the affairs of the City. The Rice home is at La Porte, Texas, on the Bay. During the World War Mr. Rice was active in war work of all kinds, and was Chairman of the Harris County Draft Board. He is associated with many of the City's largest financial and in- dustrial institutions, among these is the Suburban Homestead Company, of which he is President. Mrs. Rice is also active in all the civic and social life of the City, and is responsible for the building of the Woman's Co-operative Home, which will ever stand as a monument to this good woman's interest in young women. In fraternal and social organi- zations Mr. Rice is a member of the B. P. O. E., Woodmen of the World, and all the civic clubs of the City, in which he has always taken an active interest. His regime as Mayor will always be pointed out as the time when Houston forged ahead and became a great City, and, if nothing more had been accomplished than the building of the spacious and ornate City Auditorium out of the current reve- nue of the City, his would have been a splendid administration for a modern City. While Mr. Rice will never talk of himself, it is nevertheless known that he is a leader in Texas in many respects, and there is no citizen of Houston who is more highly esteemed.

362

IfBRice

NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS

S. CAGE, who for the past quarter of a century has been sincerely interested in the progress and prosperity of Houston, is the big type of business man who lends his in- terest not to one enterprise but to many, his activi- ties having wide scope and including many important industries, banking and constructive development as typified by the channel that has given Houston deep water facilities. Several years ago Mr. Cage assumed the presidency of the Gulf State Bank of Houston and since taking this responsibility has been the active, dominating force of this institution, studying questions affecting general policy and by his con- servative banking principles building up a large amount of new business.

Mr. Cage is a member of the Canal and Navigation District Commission, devoting much of his time to this work, which has been of vast importance in the progress of the city, greatly extending the com- mercial opportunities and affording deep water facilities to the industries of this section. A feature of this important development project is the publicly owned belt railroad serving the entire available water frontage and the industries located thereon and also used impartially by the eighteen railroads meeting the sea at Houston. The shipping facilities already available, and increasing the depth of the water ranks Houston as one of the great export- ing centers of the state. Serving a territory that is rich in lumber, agricultural and industrial resources, the city is entering on an era of growth that will place it at the head of the cities of the state. Al- ready the largest cotton receiving point in the world and the second largest cotton port, and with other resources yet undeveloped, the fifty-four miles of water frontage offer unlimited opportunity to con- structive industries. .

Mr. Cage came to Houston in 1898 and was a director and manager of the Round Bale Cotton Company until 1901, at which time he became man- ager of a cotton seed oil company, in 1902 engaging in business as the Weeks Brokerage Company, handling cotton exports until 1904 when he bought the company and it became known as the D. S. Cage Company, with Mr. Cage as sole owner. He began handling a large volume of rice exports and in this connection bought a rice mill at Katy, Texas, later, however, selling this. He also has extensive ware- house interests, these warehouses having been built on long leases. He also organized the Cuban Molas-

sas Company, large importers, distributors and wholesale dealers in this commodity. In June, 1923, Mr. Cage organized the National Carbon Company, Inc. of which he is president. The plant, which is located at Monroe, Louisiana, began operations in the fall of 1923. Mr. Cage has also taken a great interest in the civic affairs of his city and was for two years vice president of the Chamber of Com- merce and for one year served as president.

Mr. Cage was born at Jackson, Mississippi, the eighteenth of October, 1862, son of D. S. and Sarah Jane Connell Cage. His father was for many years a sugar planter, making his home at Terre Bonne Parish, Louisiana, serving during the Civil War and later was speaker of the House of Representatives of Louisiana. His mother was a native of Mis- sissippi. Mr. Cage was educated in the private schools of Louisiana, later engaging in business in that state until 1890. In that year he came to Texas and prior to coming to Houston in 1898 had various

oil mill interests at Velasco and was interested in jetties on the Brazos.

Mr. Cage was married at New Orleans the sev- enth of April, 1883, to Miss Ellen Stewart Morgan, whose father was a well known sugar planter of Louisiana. Mr. and Mrs. Cage have one of the fine residences of Houston, located at 1903 Baldwin Street. They had a family of six children, five of whom survive, Lydia H. Cage, Mrs. R. B. Campbell, G. M. Cage, with the Southern Pacific Railroad, Margaret Cage and Hugh C. Cage, serving in the Merchant Marine as mate of the steamship Republic. A son, Harry, is deceased. The family attend the Episcopal Church. Mr. Cage is a Knight of Pythias, belonging to Gulf Lodge, No. 197, at Velasco. He is a member of the Houston Club and the Chamber of Commerce.

OY R. ROBERTS, for many years associated with various branches of electrical mer chandising and other phases of the elec- trical industry, has for the past several years been active in Houston jobbing circles as manager of the Houston branch of the Southwest General Electric Company. The headquarters of the Southwest General Electric Company are in Dallas. The Southwest General Electric Company are general jobbers in electrical merchandise, selling motors of all kinds, and sizes, General Electric Com- pany products, products of the Radio Corporation of America, a line including full equipment for sending and receiving radio stations, and also man- ufacture and sell Curtis turbine engines. The South- west General Electric Company occupies a modern, three story and basement building of concrete and brick construction, located at Third and Railroad Streets. The building affords eighty thousand square feet of floor space, where they have an extremely large stock of merchandise, and a force of employees numbering over fifty, with nine sales- men on the road. The territory covered by this firm includes all of South Texas. The Southwest General Electric Company is the largest of its kind in Texas, covering a city block, facing on the water- way which is an extension of the Houston Ship Channel. Since assuming the management of this company in 1918 Mr. Roberts has been active in building up the already extensive trade of the com- pany. The officers of the company are, H. E. Hob- son, president nad general manager, and Henry Lange, secretary and treasurer.

Mr. Roberts was born at Corsicana, Texas, in 1879, son of John Sterling Roberts, in the monu- ment business at Dallas, and Mattie Booth Roberts. He was educated in the public schools of Dallas, and after graduating from high school took a bus- iness course. He spent one year with the Western Electric Company, as departmental manager, at Chicago, then was for eight years with the Bell Telephone Company, at San Antonio, as wire chief and manager. Following this he went with the Hobson Electric Company at Dallas as salesman, working in many departments, and coming to Hous- ton in 1918 as manager of the Houston branch.

Mr. Roberts was married at San Antonio, to Miss Lillian Carstens, daughter of R. L. and Daisy Cars- tens. Mr. and Mrs. Roberts have one child, Lillian. Mr. Roberts is a member of the Praetorians, the Houston Club, the Glenbrook Country Club, and is a Mason, York Rite, and a member of Hella Temple

365

MEN OF TEXAS

AMES M. ROCKWELL, pioneer lumber man of Texas, and a leader in this great industry, has, for a quarter of a century, maintained his headquarters and home in Houston, where he heads the Rockwall Bros. & Co. This firm was organized in 1896 by Mr. Rockwell and his brother, A. A. Rockwell (deceased since 1904). The Rockwell Bros. and Company own and operate twenty-eight lumber yards, located in North Texas and Oklahoma, and the organization of this company numbers upward of one hundred people. The purchasing and accounting departments of the firm's entire business are maintained in Houston, where their office is located at 503 Foster Build- ing.

Mr. Rockwell was born in Indiana in October, 1863. His father, H. M. Rockwell, a member of a well-known Ohio family, came to Texas in 1877. His mother was Miss Mary Cantwell, a member of an old and prominent Ohio family. Mr. Rockwell's education was obtained in the public schools of Al- bany, Texas, and the University of Hard Knocks. He has spent practically all his business life in the lumber industry, which began in Albany, Texas, in 1889, with the M. T. Jones Lumber Company, and remained with this company until the death of Mr. Jones in 1898, when he became one of the executors of his estate. He continued as executor for fifteen years, and that fact was primarily the cause of Mr. Rockwell's removal to Houston to assist in looking after this vast estate. Mr. Rockwell has, during his twenty-five years of residence in Houston, be- come associated in many of the leading industries and institutions of the city, and is vice-president of the Bankers Mortgage Company, and is treasurer of the Lumbermen's Underwriters.

Mr. Rockwell was married in Cisco, Texas, Octo- ber 23rd, 1889, to Miss Sallie W. Richardson, a na- tive of Mississippi, and a daughter of W. C. Rich- ardson (deceased), a well-known business man of Mississippi, who had lived in Texas only four years before his death. They have four children, James W., Cecil C., Lillian and Henry M. Rockwell. The three sons are associated with their father in business, and the daughter is at home with parents. Mr. and Mrs. Rockwell reside at 2116 Crawford Street. In social organizations Mr. Rockwell holds member- ship in the Houston Country Club and the Houston Club, Rotary Club and other similar social organi- zations. Mr. Rockwell takes a keen interest in the welfare of all members of his organization, and the loyalty of his associates and employes is of the highest type-everybody happy. He is deeply in- terested in all matters that will in any manner as- sist in the development of Houston, and believes that this City, within a period of ten years will have attained a population of five hundred thousand.

W. NEAL, Vice-President and Manager of the Cheek-Neal Coffee Company, of Hous- ton, entered the coffee business when twen- ty-one years of age, and has remained in this line of endeavor since that time, and knows cof- fee and the business end of this great industry as few men know it. The Cheek-Neal Coffee Company was organized in 1886 at Nashville, Tennessee and the name "Maxwell House" was given to this cof- fee, from a famous old hotel in Nashville, called the Maxwell House. The home plant of this famous

coffee is still at Nashville, and they have plants at Houston, Jacksonville, Florida; Brooklyn, New York, and Richmond, Virginia. It is conceded that the Maxwell House brand has taken the lead among coffee drinkers, and is in a class of excellency all to itself. Mr. Neal came to Texas in 1904 and wisely chose Houston for his home, seeing in this city a great future. The Cheek-Neal Coffee Com- pany sell to jobbers only, and each plant roasts its own coffee, and about 75 per cent of their coffee comes from South and Central America. The Hous- ton plant handles about 100,000 bags of coffee an- nually, which they obtain in a raw state and roast, using gas, which permits clean roasting, without the presence of soot or smoke. During the twenty years the Cheek-Neal plant has been in operation in Houston their growth has been remarkable. Twelve cylinders are now used in the roasting, mak- ing this roasting plant the largest of its kind West of the Mississippi river, and they are planning to materially enlarge this already large plant. From fifty to sixty people are employed in the Houston plant and twenty-five traveling salesmen sell the Maxwell House coffee and tea with Houston head- quarters. The Maxwell House Tea is regarded as the twin sister of Maxwell House Coffee in quality, flavor and goodness and great quantities of tea is also sold by this company. The Houston plant is located at 2017-19 Preston Avenue and the other officers of the company are J. O. Cheek, Nashville, president; D. M. Bayer, Nashville, treasurer, and Newman Cheek, secretary; the vice-presidents are J. R. Neal, Leon T. Cheek, R. L. Cheek, J. H. Cheek and F. L. Cheek.

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New encyclopedia of Texas, volume 1, Part 68

Author: Davis, Ellis A. Publication date: 1926 Publisher: Dallas, Tex. : Texas development bureau, [1926?] Number of Pages: 1416

Author: Davis, Ellis A.
Publication date: 1926
Publisher: Dallas, Tex. : Texas development bureau, [1926?]
Number of Pages: 1416