New encyclopedia of Texas, volume 2, Part 64

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

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A native Texan, Mr. Jarrell was born at Corsi- cana on May 31st, 1892. His father, J. A. Jarrell, a native of Tennessee, was a pioneer dry goods merchant of Corsicana, and the senior member of the Jarrell-Elliott Dry Goods Company, one of the largest and best known firms of its kind in Central Texas. His mother was Miss Alma Strader, a native of Missouri and a member of a prominent family of that state. The public schools of Corsicana furnished the foundation for Mr. Jarrell's educa- tion and Toby's Business College of Waco fitted him with his early business training, and he has been very successful in his chosen career.

Mr. Jarrell was married at Bastrop, Texas, in 1920, to Miss Frances Haralson, a native of the Lone Star State and a daughter of J. A. Haralson, (deceased) well known in the railroad circles of the state. Mr. and Mrs. Jarrell reside at 619 Col- quitt Avenue. Mr. Jarrell is a member of the A. F. and A. M., and has attained to the Knight Templar degree in the York Rite body of this order; he is a member of Arabia Temple. He is president of the Insurance Exchange of Houston, and devotes much of his time to further the interests of the local exchange. He is also a member of the Glen- brook Country Club, the Shrine Club, Rotary Club, the Houston Chamber of Commerce and is a con- sistent member of the Methodist Church. Mr. Jar- rell is popular in the business and social circles

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NEW ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS

of Houston, where he is making a splendid success. He is intensely interested in the civic and educa- tional welfare of his city, and gives liberally of his time and means to further any project for the progress and advancement of Houston, which he believes is soon to become the Metropolis of the Southwest.

WOLFENSTEIN, president and general manager of Levy Bros. Dry Goods Company and the Grand Leader, has since coming to Houston been an active figure in the business circles of this city. Mr. Wolfenstein came to Houston in 1916 and established the Grand Lead- er, a modern and complete department store with a capital stock of $150,000.00 and since its establish- ment has done an annual business of $1,000,000.00. The Grand Leader employs one hundred and twenty- five people, and sell for cash only. Mr. Wolfen- stein's life is of that ample and busy kind that over- flowed the confines of one big business, and in 1920 he became the general manager of Levy Bros. Dry Goods Company. This company is incorporated for $750,000.00 and their annual business amounts to $3,500,000.00 They employ five hundred people in the several departments, each one experienced in the particular department where they are employed. Levy Bros. Dry Goods Company was established in Houston in 1887 by Leo Levy and the late Abe M. Levy, life-long residents of Houston. They were later joined in the business by Joe Levy, Hyman Levy and Haskell Levy. The Levy Bros. Dry Goods Company is recognized as one of the best and most complete department stores in the Southwest, car- rying a line of merchandise that would be a credit to stores in cities twice the size of Houston.

Mr. Wolfenstein was born in New York in 1875. His parents, Philip Wolfenstein and Rosa Wolfen- stein, were natives of New York, and well known in business and social circles of that city. Mr. Wolfenstein's education was obtained in the public schools of New York.

Mr. Wolfenstein came to Texas in 1894 and imme- diately launched his business career as a dry goods merchant. He first was associated with the L. Wolf- son Company of San Antonio as department man- ager, remaining in this position until 1899 when he was made general manager of the L. Wolfson Com- pany. He remained in the service of this company fourteen years, until 1908, when he removed to Dal- las, where he was associated with the Titche-Goet- tinger Company for three years, from 1908 to 1911, when he resigned his position with this firm and went to Jacksonville, Florida, where he remained until 1913, when he returned to Dallas as depart- ment manager for Sanger Brothers. He remained with Sanger Brothers for three years, and in 1916 came to Houston. Mr. Wolfenstein was married in San Antonio in 1899 to Miss Elsie Kunze, a na- tive of Austin and a member of a well known fam- ily of that city. They have three children, Phyllis, now Mrs. Albert Heilner of New York, Dorothy and Fannie. The latter two daughters have been edu- cated in music and are indeed accomplished. The Wolfenstein residence is located at 603 West Main Street. Mr. Wolfenstein is a Mason to the 32nd degree and a Shriner of Arabia Temple. He is a member of the Houston Chamber of Commerce and the Merchants Association and the Glenbrook Coun-

try Club. Mr. Wolfenstein is interested in all agen- cies working for the greater development and civic improvement of Houston, and expects the city to continue its steady, consistent growth and is look- ing forward to an era of great business prosperity in all lines.

FRIEDLANDER, one of the organizers of the Gibraltar Savings and Building Asso- ciation, and secretary, treasurer and mana- ger of same since its organization has prov- ed his value as a man of sound judgment, fully com- petent to fill the high position he holds, and the re- sponsibilities involved. The Gibraltar Savings and Building Association was organized in 1921 with a capital of $5,000,000 and is subject to the supervision of the state insurance department. This association is the first building and loan company in the state owning its own building which is located at 710 San Jacinto Street. All loans of this association are made in Houston, and many of the leading business men of the city are stock holders in the Gibraltar Sav- ings and Building Association. This association has many attractive features, both in installment and prepaid certificates, and the members receive all earnings. Other officers of the Gibraltar Savings and Building Association are W. T. Carter, Jr., president, and E. R. Spotts and Dr. S. M. Lister, vice presidents.

A native Texan, Mr. Friedlander was born in Waco in 1888. His father, Adolph Friedlander was well known in the business circles of Waco where for many years he was engaged in the mercantile busi- ness. His mother was Miss Mina Frank, a member of a prominent San Antonio family. Mr. Friedlan- der's education was obtained in the public and high schools of Waco, graduating from the latter in the class of 1904. He later took several special courses in different lines.

Mr. Friedlander has had a wide and varied busi- ness career, which he began in Waco, where he was for a period of seven years in charge of all real estate of the August A. Busch and Company. After this, he engaged in the fire insurance business in Waco, and remained in this line of work for thiee years. In 1916 he disposed of all of his interests in Waco and came to Houston with the Southwest Pub- licity Bureau, and remained for three years in this service. He then went to New York City and en- gaged in the buying and selling of stocks and bonds. He remained in this business in New York for two years and returned to Houston and organized the Gibraltar Savings and Building Association, which has been a thorough success. Mr. Friedlander was married in Waco in 1913 to Miss Reva Davidson, a daughter of Sam Davidson, a well known Texan who is now residing in Dallas. Mr. and Mrs. Friedlander reside at the Rice Hotel. In fraternal and social or- ganizations, Mr. Friedlander holds membership in the Knights of Pythias and the Concordia Club. He is a tireless worker for the good of the city where he may live and its people. While residing in Waco, he was president of the Young Men's Business League; president of the Progress Club; a director of the Texas Cotton Palace Association, and an active worker in everything for the good of Waco. Since coming to Houston, he has shown the same spirit in the work he is doing for the betterment and advancement of the city of his adoption.

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MEN OF TEXAS

LUCIA is well known as a manufacturer and importer of Houston where for more than two score years he has been engaged in business. Mr. Lucia is the owner of the Magnolia Macaroni Manufacturing Company, makers of all kinds of macaroni, spaghetti, vermi- celli, etc. He established this manufacturing plant thirty-one years ago, and he manufactures a product of very high quality. The Magnolia Macaroni Man- ufacturing Company, located at 512 West Dallas Street, has a floor space of twenty thousand square feet, and employs twenty-five people. This factory uses thirty-five sacks of special flour daily. In addition to the Magnolia Macaroni Manufacturing Company, Mr. Lucia conducts a very large import- ing business. He buys and imports in car load lots the following: Olive oil, black olives, tomato sauce, anchovies, cheese, and many other articles of food.

Mr. Lucia was born in Italy in 1852. His par- ents, Sam Lucia and Annie Lucia, were well known and respected citizens in the land of their nativity. They came to America in 1881. Mr. Lucia was educated in private institutions in Italy. He entered the Italian army when twenty years of age and after serving three years retired as a captain. He came to America forty-one years ago and began his business career as a fruit merchant, which he continued for three years. He then engaged in the grocery business, and continued in this line of bus- iness for s seven years. Thirty-one years ago he established the Magnolia Macaroni Manufacturing Company and has always lived in the present lo- cality, and for the past twenty-seven years on the same property. Mr. Lucia has been closely con- nected with the commercial interests of the city for many years, and has many interests. He is a director in the National Bank of Commerce.

Mr. Lucia was married in Houston in 1896 to Miss Paulina Vetrano, a daughter of Emanuel Vet- rano, for many years engaged in the grocery bus- iness in Houston. They have nine children-Sam J., twenty-four years of age; Annie Mary, aged twenty years; Lena Mary Magdaline, aged eighteen; Manuel Mathews, aged sixteen years; Pauline Agnes, aged fourteen years; Vincent John, twelve years old; Josephine, ten years old; Joseph, aged eight years and Anthony, four years of age. Mr. Lucia has great faith in the future of Houston and expects the city to continue its steady, consistent growth, until it becomes the greatest city in the South- west.

RANK SCHOTT, for upwards of forty years a resident of Houston, and one of the vet- eran bakers of this city, besides being a factor in industrial activities, has taken a constructive interest in public affairs. Mr. Schott is President of Schott's Bakery, Incorporated, one of the largest and finest bakeries in the Lone Star State. The business was established by Mr. Scott, in 1893, in a small way, with one man to help, and a horse and wagon to deliver. But from the begin- ning the business prospered, for Mr. Schott made bread that has always been noted for its quality, and the new, three-story brick and concrete building on Washington Avenue, just completed by this firm, is the result of these years of growth. This build- ing, each of the three floors giving seventy-one by one hundred and forty feet of floor space, is equip- ped with the most modern equipment, and is able to

meet a wholesale demand for any bakery product. The third floor is used for the dough and mixing rooms, with the second floor given over to the di- viders, molders, and also the baking ovens, the Baker-Perkins traveling oven, the most improved baking oven, being the type used. The first floor takes care of the distribution department, offices, etc., and like the rest of the building is modernly equipped. A force of fifty operatives are employed in the plant, and wholesale trade catered to exclus- ively. Mr. Schott is President of the Schott Bak- ery, Inc., and his son, Herbert Schott, is Manager.

Mr. Schott was born at Baden, Germany, the twen- ty-eighth of September, 1862. He came to New Or- leans, where other members of the family had al- ready come, in 1878, and learned the baker's trade in that city, remaining there until 1882. He then came to Galveston, where he spent one year, and then came to Houston, in 1883. For the five ensu- ing years he worked in various bakeries, among them Fritz Weiss and Chris Bollfrass Bakeries, and then went in business for himself, establishing the bakery he operates today. Mr. Schott has always been progressive, and was the first baker in Hous- ton to place an oven in his show window, demonstrat- ing the making of bread.

Mr. Schott was married at Houston, the first of September, 1891, to Miss Pauline Reiger. They had a family of four children, one of whom, Frank, Jr., died the eleventh of September, 1921, leaving a widow and one child, Archie, the three surviving children being Herbert J., Manager of the bakery, and who married Miss Pearl Baker, and has two children; Herbert J., Jr., and Lois Mildred; Bernard T., also with the bakery, and who married Miss Ruby Harlow, and has one child, Lola Ruth; and Katherine, wife of L. C. Bryan, a railroad man, and who has one child, Hilda Mae. Mr. Schott is a member of the Sons of Hermann, and an honor mem- ber of the Houston Saengerbund. Mr. Schott is in every way one of the substantial citizens of Houston, and his progressive bakery methods have been of vital importance to the community.

M. ANDERSON is one of the best posted men in South Texas on matters pertaining to life insurance, and has made a close and intensive study of all phases of life pro- tection during the sixteen years or more he has been engaged in the business. He is now the sen- ior partner in the Anderson-Allen Agency, general agents for the Lincoln National Life Insurance Company, with district offices at 317 Carter Build- ing, Houston. The territory embraced in the gen- eral agency district covered by the Anderson-Allen Agency is Harris, Galveston, Brazoria and Fort Bend Counties.

This agency was established in May, 1921, taking over the business established by a former agency, and has been highly successful. R. S. Allen is the junior partner in the agency and the two men make an especially strong and able team in the insurance field. They have four special agents working out of the Houston office and have adopted a policy of adding to their field force as desirable and efficient men as can be procured. The Lincoln National, one of the strongest Old Line companies operating in Texas, has more than a million dollars of insurance in force in the district covered by the

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Anderson-Allen Agency.

Mr. Anderson has spent a total of sixteen years in the insurance business, commencing soon after his graduation. Three years of this time was spent at Galveston where he was actuary and manager for the American National Insurance Company. He is an expert actuary and has made a special study of insurance mathematics. From Galveston he went to Beaumont, where he was associated with the San Jacinto Life Insurance Company for some time before removing to Houston in 1920. He spent sev- eral years in consultation work and as actuary for insurance companies before coming to Texas in 1915.

A native of Canada, Mr. Anderson was born at Petrolia, in the Canadian oil fields, in 1885. He was educated in the public and high schools of Michigan and attended the University of Michigan, specializing in insurance mathematics, and grad- uating with the class of 1907. He went into in- surance work immediately following his graduation, realizing the practically unlimited opportunities in this field of effort.

Mr. Anderson was married on December 26, 1908, at Bay City, Michigan, to Miss Henriette Walrath, member of a well known Michigan family. They have two children, Calvin and Adamary. Mrs. An- derson is a trained insurance woman and has had special courses in insurance salesmanship, taking the first course in this line offered by the Carnegie Institute of Technology at Pittsburgh, Pa.

OHN G. DAVIS, JR., one of the younger members of the business fraternity of Houston, has entered into the spirit of the South Texas Metropolis and has been identified with various Houston business interests since entering the commercial field. At this time he is a sales representative of the well known Castor Oil Products Company.

A native Texan, Mr. Davis was born at Dallas, March 12th, 1898. His father, John G. Davis, Sr., removed to Houston in 1903, and has since been engaged in the cotton business in this city, where he is well known and prominent in the cotton in- dustry. His mother was Miss Laura Fahm, a mem- ber of a well known Georgia family. His education was obtained in the public schools of Houston. After finishing school, Mr. Davis entered the cotton business here, and served in practically all the branches of this great industry. In 1917 he en- listed for service in the World War and was sent to Mineola, Long Island, New York, and was at- tached to the 42nd Division Supply Train, which was on the way to France, and departed for France thirty days after enlistment as a private. He was for eighteen months with the 42nd Division in France, and in this period had been promoted to the rank of captain. He was transferred to the Red Cross, in charge of transportation, and was with this branch of the service for four months, making a total of twenty-two months in France. Mr. Davis was discharged after his return to the United States as a captain in August, 1919. He again entered the cotton business, for a short time, and then entered the battery business with a part- ner, and later purchased the partner's interest and conducted the business alone until selling same in November, 1923. During the time Mr. Davis served in the army, he was paid his regular salary by the cotton firm for whom he was working when he

enlisted for service.

Mr. Davis was married in Houston, January 6th, 1921, to Miss Ruth Goodenough, a native of Indiana and a daughter of R. G. Goodenough, now a well known resident of San Antonio, Texas. They have one son, John G. Davis III. Mr. and Mrs. Davis reside at 4411 Roseland Street. Mr. Davis is a member of the Red Roosters and takes an active interest in this organization. He is a believer in the future of Houston, and never fails to speak a good word for the city of his adoption, which he thinks will soon become the leading city of the Southwest.

L. DODSON, since coming to Houston sev- eral years ago, has been associated with the battery business, attaining the reputation of one of the most progressive representa- tives of this important branch of the automotive business in the city. Mr. Dodson is president and manager of the Dodson Battery Company, Incor- porated, a firm established and incorporated in Feb- ruary, 1923. The Dodson Battery Company, Inc., occupies a modern building which Mr. Dodson built especially for his business at 2002 San Jacinto Street at the corner of Pierce Avenue. This building, with a floor space covering sixty by seventy-three feet, provides adequately for the various departments, sales, service and repairs. Mr. Dodson is an official Willard battery dealer at Houston, and also takes care of the servicing of many Willards in use in this city. Mr. Dodson has installed the most up-to-date equipment in his establishment and every possible means to insure satisfaction of the customers is used. Three trained battery men are on duty at all times and look after the sales and service of Wil- lard batteries under the supervision of Mr. Dodson. Other members of the corporation are T. M. Keiller, vice president, and F. M. Dodson, secretary and treasurer.

H. L. Dodson was born at Sherman, Texas, the twenty-sixth of January, 1897, son of J. S. Dodson, a native of Grayson County, who died when his son was a boy six years old, and Lida Barton Dodson, who has remarried and is now the wife of J. M. Mc- Makin, of Howe, Texas. Mr. Dodson attended the public schools of Grayson County and as a boy began to work in the auto shops at Sherman in the mechan- ical department. Later he went to Detroit, Mich- igan, and from there to Dallas, Texas, where, at the entrance of the United States in the World War he joined the Motor Transport, Company A, 117 Sup- ply Train, Forty-second Rainbow Division, enlisting the eighth of July, 1917. He went to France with this division and was there transferred to division headquarters. He was discharged the eighteenth of February, 1919, as a private, and went to Dallas, where he remained until April, the tenth of the same year, when he came to Houston. Here he went to work with the Hurlburt-Still Electric Company in the battery department and later became manager of this department. In December, 1922, he left this company to organize the Dodson Battery Company, Inc., of which he has since been president and manager.

Mr. Dodson makes his home at the Rossonian Apartments and is a Blue Lodge Mason, Temple Lodge. His activities in the business world at Hous- ton have stamped him as a young man of progressive ideals and keen business judgment.

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MEN OF TEXAS

DWARD KOCH, pioneer resident and retired business man, has been a citizen of Houston since May, 1876, coming here at that time from Natchez, Mississippi. For many years he was engaged in the bakery business and his place on Congress Street, in the Fifth Ward, for twenty years supplied the needs of many of Houston's most discriminating families. Hard work and judicious investments enabled Mr. Koch to accumulate from the proceeds of his business and investments a com- fortable fortune and in 1901 he retired from active business. For several years he has been in declin- ing health, but his mind is still as active as ever and he tells with marked interest many anecdotes of his early business experiences when Houston was but a small town.

Mr. Koch was born at Barmen, Germany, on No- vember 3rd, 1844, a son of William Koch a cabinet maker. He was educated in the schools of Germany and learned the confectionery trade. Coming to America in June, 1868, soon after the close of the war between the North and the South, he worked in New York City for eight months and then went to Alabama where he remained for nine months be- fore going to New Orleans. He worked in the Louisiana city for a year and then removed to Natchez, Mississippi, where he established a bakery and continued in business there for six years. Com- ing to Houston in May, 1876, he went to work for Brown and Bollfrass, bakers and was employed by this firm for three years when he again went in business for himself.

In July, 1873, fifty-three years ago, Mr. Koch was married at Natchez, Mississippi, to Miss Emma Fairy, a daughter of H. and Frances Fairy. Five children were born to them, but none are now liv- ing. The family home is at 1909 McIlhenny Avenue.

Mr. Koch is a typical example of the old school type of gentleman. Cultured and refined, and ex- tremely modest regarding the part he has played in the development of Houston, he has nevertheless been connected in some way at least with most of the important and progressive programs of development sponsored by the city during fifty years he has made Houston his home. Having seen Houston develop from a village to a metropolitan city, he still visions its future growth and expects that in the years to come it will assume a place of distinct leadership among the commercial and shipping centers of the South.

Mr. Koch is a member of the United Workmen of America, the Turnverein, and an honorary member of the Houston Sangerbund, an honorary member of the Master Bakers of Texas, and charter member of the Sons of Herman.

ARL H. RIES, for the past fifteen years active in the mercantile business at Hous- ton, is now manager of the Women's Wear Department of the Clark Thompson Depart- ment Store of Galveston, one of the largest mercan- tile establishments in the city. The women's wear department, over which Mr. Ries presides, is one of the most exclusive in this section of the State, and is arranged in such a manner that the visitor's first impression is a pleasing one, the fixtures in this section being ultra modern. Mr. Ries is especially well equipped to manage this department, having had much experience in this line of work.

Mr. Ries was born in Germany, the ninth of Au-

gust, 1872, son of Henry Ries, who came to Ameri- ca in 1880, living at Kenton, Ohio, where he was a factor in the dye industry, until his death. Mr. Ries grew up in this city, attending public schools there. At the age of eleven he began his mercan- tile experience, in a store in Ohio, working up as age and experience permitted. He came to Texas in 1910, and until 1918 was department manager of the W. C. Munn Company, mercantile establishment at Houston. In that year he resigned and estab- lished The Carl Ries Company, handling an exclu- sive line of ladies' ready-to-wear, in which he was active until going with Clark Thompson Department Store of Galveston.

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New encyclopedia of Texas, volume 2, Part 64

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