New encyclopedia of Texas, volume 2, Part 27

Author: Davis, Ellis A.
Publication date: 1926
Publisher: Dallas, Tex. : Texas development bureau, [1926?]
Number of Pages: 1262

USA > Texas > New encyclopedia of Texas, volume 2 > Part 27

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Mr. Miller was born at Alvin, between Houston and Galveston, on September 30, 1895. He is a son of A. B. and Adelaide (Woodward) Miller. His father is engaged in cattle raising and is a well known ranchman.

After attending the public and high schools of Houston Mr. Miller entered the contracting and building business and was associated with the O. F. Holcombe Company until the outbreak of the World War in 1917. On June 1, 1917, he enlisted in the United States Navy and was assigned to duty on the U. S. S. Albatross. He remained in the navy for over two years, receiving his discharge on Au- gust 1, 1919. After returning to Houston he re- entered the building and contracting business.

Every detail of a job contracted by Mr. Miller is supervised with the utmost care and no pains or ex- pense spared to do the work exactly in accordance with specifications. This painstaking care has re- sulted in the highest endorsement being given his work by clients whose building jobs he has handled to their entire satisfaction.

In October, 1922, Mr. Miller was married at Fort Stockton, Texas, to Miss Evelyn Livingston, daugh- ter of Mr. and Mrs. J. M. Livingston. They reside at 2715 Helena Street.

Mr. Miller is an enthusiastic booster for Houston, believing the city will attain a population of half a million people within the next decade. He is espe- cially interested in the development of the city's manufacturing and commercial activities. Mr. Mil- ler is a member of the Knights of Pythias.

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لموعين جر

Joseph Ginger

NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS

OSEPH FINGER, architect, with offices in the Keystone Building, has for the past seventeen years practiced his profession in Houston and has gained popularity and dis- tinction throughout South Texas by his work as a designer of many prominent buildings. Mr. Finger is artistic in his designing, and withal adheres to the practicable, and the principles of permanency in his buildings. There are nine people in his or- ganization. Mr. Finger has specialized in commer- cial, industrial buildings, and apartments and hotels. Among the Houston structures which he has design- ed and built may be numbered The Plaza Apartment and Hotel, costing one million dollars, Keystone Building, costing five hundred thousand dollars. Temple Beth Israel, costing three hundred thousand dollars, addition to the J. M. West Building, costing two hundred thousand dollars, the building for M. M. Graves, costing one hundred and thirty thousand dol- lars, twelve-apartment building for Tillie Spinner, costing seventy-five thousand dollars, two manufac- turing plants for the Tennison Manufacturing Com- pany, costing one hundred and thirty thousand dol- lars, Cheek-Neal Coffee Company Building, Citizens State Bank Building, Wm. C. Penn Hotel, Tennison Hotel, DeGeorge Hotel, Zindler Building, Cockrell Apartment Building, Heidingsfelder Apartments, Kaiser Apartments, Concordia Club Building, Harris County School for Girls, Texas Packing Company Plant. In Shreveport, Louisiana, he built the Ricou- Brewster Building at a cost of six hundred thousand dollars; in Galveston he built the eleven-story Amer- ican National Insurance Building, the first skyscrap- er there, for W. L. Moody, Jr .; in Galveston he also built, among other buildings, the Broadmoore Apart- ment, at a cost of one hundred thousand dollars, for the American National Insurance Company. Among the many residences of importance built by Mr. Finger in Houston are those of Judge H. M. Gar- wood, M. M. Graves, H. B. Tennison and Simon Sakowitz. At this time Mr. Finger is building many buildings, among which are the new De George 12- story hotel and the 16-story San Jacinto Hotel.

Mr. Finger was born in Austria March 7, 1887. His education was obtained in Austrian schools of archi- tecture and in various technical schools. Mr. Finger came to New Orleans in 1905 and three years later he came to Houston.

Mr. Finger was married at Houston in 1912 to Miss Gertrude Levy, daughter of A. Levy, well known business man of Houston. They have one son, Joseph Finger, Jr. Mr. Finger is a member of the B. P. O. E., Concordia Club, Glenbrook Country Club, American Institute of Architects, Texas Chap- ter of the American Institute of Architects and Tem- ple Beth Israel. He participates in a most substantial and active manner in all moves and enterprises that have for their object the advancement of the city of his adoption and its citizenship. Mr. Finger has contributed materially to the building of the city, and he is highly regarded and respected by all with whom he has had dealings.

EORGE ALFRED HILL, retired contractor and business man, comes of a distinguished family that played a most important part in the early history of Texas. His father was a resident of Texas in the days when Texas was a part of Mexico and gave valiant service in the war that established her independence and gave

to the world a new republic. Before Texas joined the Union, James Monroe Hill participated in the battle of San Jacinto, the conflict that definitely ended the war between Texas and Mexico. He was born in LaGrange, Georgia, in 1818, and came to Texas when 18 years of age. He resided in Wash- ington, Burleson and Fayette Counties and was a large land owner and stockman. He removed to Austin in 1870 on account of better living condi- tions and continued to reside there until his death in 1904.

George Alfred Hill was born in Fayette County on March 23, 1853, a son of James M. and Jane (Hallowell) Hill. He attended the public schools of Fayette County and in 1869 began business in Galveston under the firm name of Quinn and Hill, cotton factors and commission merchants, and later was the head of Hill, Orwiss and Co. He was also connected with the Palmer-Sullivan Syndicate, con- tractors and railroad builders, and participated in the building of the Denver and Rio Grande, the Mexican National, Corpus Christi, San Diego and Rio Grande and the Mexican National Railway of Texas. He was right of way and franchise agent for the Palmer-Sullivan Syndicate and continued with this organization until 1884 when be engaged in buisness for himself again, doing paving con- tracting in Houston and Galveston. In 1875 he served as alderman for the City of Galveston. From 1883 until 1886 he was engaged in dredge work and in shaping up the banks of the Houston Ship Channel and then operated sight-seeing excursions to old Mexico for a period of three years.

For three years Mr. Hill was president and gen- eral manager of the Austin Dam and Suburban Railway, and then went to Beaumont as chairman of the safety committee of the Hogg-Swain Syndi- cate. In 1901 he again engaged in business for himself and erected the first earthen tanks in Texas for the preservation of oil, being associated in this work with Stilson Hutchins and X. B. Babbitt of New York. He succeeded in conserving three mil- lion barrels of oil and in conjunction with Hutchins and Babbitt engaged in the oil business at Beau- mont and Sour Lake and was one of the founders of Sour Lake and Grayburg. He then promoted the Beaumont, Sour Lake and Western Railway Company and built and operated the line from Hous- ton to Beaumont. He was with the road from 1905 until 1909 when he sold his interests and bought the Houston Transfer Company, the oldest and larg- est transfer business in the city. At one time the entire equipment of this company paraded the streets of Houston, the procession being one and a half miles long. During his operation of the transfer company Mr. Hill served for eight years as United States mail contractor. In 1921 he dis- posed of his interest in the transfer company and retired from active business life.

Mr. Hill was married at Calvert, Texas, in 1888, to Miss Julia McHugh, daughter of Captain T. J. and Ann (Shannon) McHugh. Captain McHugh came from England and served as county judge of Robinson County, and later was postmaster at Calvert for four years. Mr. and Mrs. Hill have two sons, Raymond M., 35, in the lumber business at Orange, Texas, with Lutcher Stark, and George A., Jr., 32, an attorney, of the firm of Kennerly, Williams, Lee and Hill, general attorneys, of the

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MEN OF TEXAS

Houston Oil Company. Both sons served in the United States Army during the World War, Ray- mond M. being a non-commissioned officer with the American Expeditionary Forces in France and George A., Jr., holding a commission as Captain of Calvary here. Mr. and Mrs. Hill reside at 1211 Marshall Avenue.

For many years Mr. Hill was active in various fraternal organizations and at one time was a mem- ber of thirteen fraternities. He is a Mason and was active in the Knights of Pythias for a long time, organizing some 18 or 20 lodges in South Texas. He was formerly a member of the Houston Club and the Houston Country Club.

Although retired from active business, Mr. Hill continues to maintain an active interest in the de- velopment of Houston.

OHN MONROE McGRANAHAN, who has recently become identified with the lumber industry at Houston, has in the several years of his residence in this city, estab- lished a lumber business that ranks as one of the most progressive here, as well as one of the larg- est. The McGranahan Lumber Company, Incor- porated, of which firm Mr. McGranahan is Presi- dent, was established by him in 1922, and is one of the firms in the city making a record for progress. The McGranahan Lumber Company does both a wholesale and retail business, supplying all kinds of building material, including roofing, brick, ce- ment, etc., for all classes of construction. The busi- ness covers a block and a half, at Hill, Bryan and Morgan Streets, with fine yards and modern lum- ber buildings, and railroad frontage. They handle an extensive business, employing thirty men in the office and yards, and have furnished the material bill on many of the fine residences and buildings in the city. The McGranahan Lumber Company also finances material bills and builds and sells homes on easy payments, a system of lumber merchandising that is making Houston a city of homes. The offi- cers of the McGranahan Lumber Company are: Mr. McGranahan, President; W. A. Parish, Vice-Presi- dent; A. A. Sterling, Vice-President; J. A. Kelly, Secretary, and T. W. Hopkins, Treasurer.

Mr. McGranahan was born at Mattoon, Illinois, the twelfth of September, 1889, son of Andrew and Alice McGranahan, his father a railroad man of that state. Mr. McGranahan was educated in the public schools of his native city, graduating from High School there. He came to Texas in 1904, locating at Fort Worth, where he was with the Burton Lingo Lumber Company for three years. He then spent eight years in Dallas as manager of the Burton Lumber Company of that city, and in 1917 came to Houston as Vice-President and general manager of the Houston yard of the Burton Lum- ber Company. In 1922 he established his present company, of which he is president. He is also a director of the American Building and Loan Asso- ciation.

Mr. McGranahan was married at Dallas, in 1910, to Miss Zelma Lee Butts, daughter of Wallace and Cora Butts. They have two children, John Monroe, Junior, and Willard Burton. The family live at 1401 Branard Street. Mr. McGranahan is a member of the Houston Country Club, the Houston Club, and fra- ternally is a Mason, a member of the Scottish Rite Bodies, and of Arabia Temple Shrine.

OXIE H. THOMPSON, for many years a factor in the lumber business at Houston, is an executive in two of the largest lum- ber companies of Texas, and also has large timber interests in the state. Mr. Thompson is president of the Thompson Brothers Lumber Com- pany, and vice president of the Thompson-Tucker Lumber Company, both of which maintain home offices in Houston. Associated with Mr. Thomp- son in these companies for many years was his brother, the late Mr. Alex Thompson, who was vice president of the Thompson Brothers Lumber Com- pany and president of the Thompson-Tucker Lum- ber Company; Mr. J. Lewis Thompson, another brother, who is president of the Public National Bank of Houston, is associated with him in the lumber business. The Thompson's interests also include a number of saw mills in Trinity County and large timber interests in Southeast Texas. The Thompson Brothers Lumber Company and the Thompson-Tucker Lumber Company are among the largest shippers of lumber in this section. Mr. Thompson has offices in the State National Bank Building.

Hoxie H. Thompson was born at Kilgore, in Gregg County, Texas, the fifteenth of July, 1880, the son of John M. Thompson and Emily (Holt) Thompson. John M. Thompson, a native of Georgia, came to Texas in 1845, seven years later going to Gregg County, where he settled at Kilgore, in the heart of the pine forests of the state. Shortly after going to Kilgore Mr. Thompson began in the lumber bus- iness, in a small way, gradually expanding his interests as conditions justified, and laid the foun- dations of the Thompson Brothers Lumber Company and the Thompson-Tucker Lumber Company inter- ests of today. He established the Thompson-Tucker Lumber Company at Kilgore in 1852, at which time he owned and operated a string of around ten saw mills. One of the pioneers in the lumber in- dustry in Texas, Mr. Thompson was throughout his career one of those men who saw the possi- bilities of this great resource of the Lone Star State, and set about in a conservative way to de- velop these resources. His name will ever be asso- ciated with the names of William Cameron and W. T. Carter, likewise pioneers in the lumber in- dustry, and three men to whom the industry of today owes much. Mrs. Thompson, who before her marriage was Miss Emily Holt, was a native of Caddo Parish, Louisiana. She came with her par- ents to Texas as a girl of nine years, the family locating at Kilgore, where she grew to womanhood. On July 18, 1871, she was married to John Martin Thompson. They had a family of six children, four sons and two daughters.

Hoxie H. Thompson spent his early years at Kilgore, attending the schools there. Later, in 1893, the family removed to Sherman, and he entered Austin College there, taking preparatory work for the ensuing three years, and following this with four years of college work, taking the B. S. degree in 1901. Mr. Thompson then entered Cornell Uni- versity, specializing in civil engineering, and taking the C. E. degree in 1905. Immediately following he went with the Great Northern Railroad, spending 1905 and 1906 in railroad work. He then returned to Texas, going in the lumber mills operated by his father, and working in all departments, learn-

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C.W. Womack

NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS

ing the lumber business through practical exper- ience. In 1917 he was made president of the Thompson Brothers Lumber Company and vice pres- ident of the Thompson-Tucker Lumber Company.

Mr. Thompson was married at Sherman, Texas, the twenty-seventh of December, 1906, to Miss Goree Gregg, a native of Sherman and the daugh- ter of Judge E. P. Gregg, a prominent attorney of North Texas. Mr. and Mrs. Thompson reside in Houston at 5000 Caroline Street, and have one child, Hoxie H. Thompson, Jr. Mr. Thompson be- longs to the Houston Club, the Houston Country Club, the River Oaks Country Club, the University Club, the Lumbermen's Club, and is a Mason, and a member of the Shrine Temple in Houston. Mr. Thompson is one of the well known lumbermen of Texas, and like his father, has been active in the advancement of the lumber industry, as well as taking a deep interest in the civic progress of Houston.

HARLES M. WOMACK, secretary and treas- urer of the Womack Construction Company, Inc., of Houston, has recently come to this city to make his home and business head- quarters. The Womack Construction Company was organized in 1907, and incorporated in 1916, and has its headquarters in Sherman, Texas. The Houston office was opened in 1925, Mr. Womack coming here at that time to take charge of this office. The Womack Construction Company is one of the largest road construction companies operating in Texas, and has handled all kinds of road building contracts in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas, con- structing in the aggregate many millions of dollars worth of roads and bridges. This company also built all the roads and bridges around Monroe, Lou- isiana, and since the opening of the Houston of- fice has secured many large contracts in this sec- tion. The Houston offices are located at 2115 Con- gress Avenue. Officers of the company are: John H. Kirby, president; R. S. Womack, of Sherman, vice president and general manager, and C. M. Womack, subject of this sketch, secretary-treasur- er; W. P. Mayo, assistant secretary and treasurer.

Charles M. Womack was born in Grimes County, Texas, the twenty-ninth of March, 1859, son of Abe Womack, and Addie (Lawrence) Womack. The fa- ther, now deceased, was a native of Georgia, who came to Texas in 1837. Mrs. Womack was a na- tive of Washington County, Texas. C. M. Womack attended the schools of Texas, but learned largely from the school of experience that is perhaps the greatest of all schools. During a business experi- ence covering around a half century, Mr. Womack has been engaged in various enterprises. He spent a number of years as a traveling salesman, and engaged in farming on the Brazos River and at Eagle Lake, for around a quarter of a century, and still owns farm lands at Eagle Lake. He spent some four years in the oil fields, and in 1915 was the founder of the Womack Construction Company, with which he has since been connected.

Mr. Womack has been married twice, his first wife, whom he married at Courtney, Texas, in 1883, having been Miss Ottilie Stresau. One son, Mark G. Womack, of Monroe, Louisiana, was born to this union. Mr. Womack was married the second time at Houston, in March, 1909, to Miss Stella Greenwood,

daughter of John W. Greenwood, and Annie (Dever- aux) Greenwood, native Texans. Mr. and Mrs. Womack reside at Tulane and Rochester Streets, and have one child, Charles M. Womack, Jr.

LARENCE B. COOPER recently established his residence in Houston and has become well identified with the business life of the city. Being familiar with the automobile supply business, he was first engaged in this field in Houston. Realizing the great future of Houston as a concentration point and market for cotton, he soon made his present connections as secretary of the Magnolia Compress and Warehouse Company, with offices in the State National Bank Building and with compress on Harrisburg Boulevard between Eighty-first and Brays Bayou. The other officers of the company are C. S. Kinney, president and gen- eral manager, and W. B. Lewis, treasurer.

Clarence B. Cooper was born at Stribling, Ten- nessee, the twelfth of January, 1892, son of C. Cooper, a native Texan, who went to Tennessee as a boy and lived in that state until his death, and Clara Auferman Cooper, a native of Georgia, who since her husband's death has made her home in San Antonio. Mr. Cooper was educated in the pub- lic schools of Nashville, Tennessee, later going to Vanderbilt College where he took the engineering course and graduated with the B. E. degree in 1913. He went with the engineering department of the United States government with headquarters at Nashville, and spent two years in engineering work on the rivers and harbors. He then went in busi- ness for himself as consulting engineer and con- struction engineer, engaging in this work for two years. This was followed by a year in the engineer- ing department of the N. C. & St. L. Railroad, from which position he resigned to enter military service at the entrance of the United States in the World War. Mr. Cooper served as first lieutenant in the Forty-second Division, Seventeenth Engineers of the Rainbow Division, spending one year in France, after which he was returned to the States, ranking as captain, as instructor at Camp Humphreys, Vir- ginia. He was made adjutant of that camp, re- maining there until his discharge from Jefferson Barracks, St. Louis, the nineteenth of August, 1919, He then went into the tire and accessory business at St. Louis, the firm name being the King-Cooper Service Company. After six months he disposed of his interest in this business and went on the road, covering the Middle States for the Blue Bird Ap- pliance Company. After six months with that cor- poration his father died at his home in Tennessee, and he returned there, later bringing his mother to San Antonio, where his brother, W. J. Cooper, makes his home. He was attracted with the future this state offered to the young man and after looking over various locations, decided on Houston, and with others, bought out an auto supply business with which he was identified until taking over the duties of his present office.

Mr. Cooper is a Mason, Blue Lodge, Nashville, No. 254, 18th degree Scottish Rite, Nashville. He is also a member of the Yacht Club and one of the most en- thusiastic promoters of this diversion. Mr. Cooper has made many friends in Houston, who regard him as one of the progressive young business men of the city.

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MEN OF TEXAS

TIS S. VAN DE MARK, for more than a decade identified with building activities at Houston, and a recognized authority on con- struction matters, has been a factor in the industrial and commercial world, and has won the highest esteem of his fellow citizens through his real interest in the development of his community. Mr. Van De Mark is vice president of the American Construction Company, the largest construction com- pany in the state, and a real Texas institution, backed and managed by the foremost builders in the Lone Star State. This company, organized in 1908, is now an enterprise of statewide scope, and has in its organization more than one thousand men, many of them skilled artisans, and equipped to do the highest type of construction work. The offices and headquarters of the American Construction Com- pany are in Houston, in the Gulf Building. S. Bailey Houx is president and treasurer, J. M. Mahon and Otis S. Van De Mark vice presidents, all of whom are men of recognized standing in the construction world.

The work of the American Construction Company has been largely centered on the construction of fine office buildings, and buildings of the public type, as well as industrial construction. The list includes the Gulf Building, the Majestic Theatre of Houston, the Peden Iron and Steel Company Warehouses, the Bankers Mortgage Building, the Goggan Building, the Chamber of Commerce Building, the Scottish Rite Cathedral, the State National Bank Building, the Hermann Hospital, and Wharf and Warehouse Number Four, on the ship channel, all these buildings being located in Houston. In other parts of the state are the Southwestern Life Insurance Building, at Dallas; the Cotton Exchange Building, at Dallas; the North Dallas high school, at Dallas; the Johnson County Court House, at Cleburne; the Harris Coun- ty Court House, at Houston; the Littlefield Building, at Austin; the El Paso High School, at El Paso; the Gulf Refining Building, at Port Arthur; the West- brook Hotel, at Fort Worth; the general shops of the International and Great Northern Railroad, at San Antonio; the Sealy Hospital, at Galveston, and the new Union Station, at Galveston. The Amer- ican Construction Company also had the contract for the construction of Camp Logan and Ellington Field, representing an outlay of five million dollars, and one of the most stupendous construction works of recent years.

Mr. Van De Mark has been with the American Construction Company since taking his C. E. degree, from Cornell University, in 1910, and has made an excellent record along all lines. He has personal charge of many of the activities of the company, and is one of the men on whom heavy responsibilities rest. He has a real executive ability, combined with a practical construction experience, as well as technical knowledge of construction work, that gives him prestige in the business world, and indicates still greater achievements in the future.

Mr. Van De Mark was born at Clyde, Kansas, the sixteenth day of February, 1886, son of C. W. and Addie Stephens Van De Mark. He began his educa- tion in the public schools of his native state and after finishing the high school there, entered Washburn College for a two years course prior to entering Cor- nell University, where he took the C. E. degree after three years, in 1910. He came immediately to Hous-

ton and went with the American Construction Com- pany, where he is now vice president. In 1917 Mr. Van De Mark went to Washington, D. C., handling construction work for the Air Service, and in July, 1918, was commissioned captain in the Air Service. He was discharged in February, 1919, and returned to Houston, with this exception having been located here since 1910.

Mr. Van De Mark was married at Houston, the thirtieth of May, 1923, to Miss Annie Beth Lockett, daughter of J. W. Lockett, one of the leading attor- neys of Houston, and Ida Warner Lockett. Mr. and Mrs. Van De Mark make their home at Garden Court Apartments. Mr. Van De Mark is a Scottish Rite Mason, a member of the University Club and the River Oaks Country Club, and takes a deep interest in the various civic activities at Houston. He is well known in construction circles throughout the state and is one of the most progressive men identified with construction work.

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New encyclopedia of Texas, volume 2, Part 27

Author: Davis, Ellis A. Publication date: 1926 Publisher: Dallas, Tex. : Texas development bureau, [1926?] Number of Pages: 1262

Author: Davis, Ellis A.
Publication date: 1926
Publisher: Dallas, Tex. : Texas development bureau, [1926?]
Number of Pages: 1262