USA > Texas > The encyclopedia of Texas, V.1 > Part 52
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S. Burk Burnett was born in Bats County, Mis- souri, January 1, 1848. He was brought to Texas gy his parents in the late fifties, who located in Denton County and began farming and stock rais- ing on an extensive scale. Here he grew to man- hood and married Miss Ruth Loyd. He raised stock on a large scale but in 1876 he decided to move further west where there was more room for ex- pansion in the cattle industry. He took his family to Fort Worth to live where his son, Tom L. Burnett, then a boy of five, would have opportunities for education and drove 1,300 head of cattle to Wichita County where he purchased the 26,000 acre ranch between Iowa Park and Electra, bordering on the Red River on the north. He also purchased another ranch of 18,000 acres further East, also bordering on the Red River on which area the city bearing his name has since been built.
He built a ranch home on Buffalo Head Creek about a mile distant from the present ranch head- quarters, near the Fort Worth & Denver Railroad and the Wichita Falls and Electra Pike.
Shortly after coming to Wichita County Mr. Burnett leased an area of 400,000 acres in the Kiowa and Commanche Indian Reservations which lay on the north side of the Red River in Indian Territory and for 28 years herded vast droves of cattle over that immense area. He kept his headquarters on the Wichita County ranch and had at times as many as 40,000 head of cattle on his own and leased land. He employed as many as forty to fifty cowboys with ranch headquarters on this area and continued ranching on this immense scale until the government took over the land to open it up for settlement.
Mr. Burnett sold the 18,000 acre ranch where the city of Burk Burnett is built to the Kemp and Kell interests, who colonized it with settlers and bought the holdings of the Louisville Land and Cattle Company in Kings County, an area of 200,000 acres and a herd of 15,000 cattle. Upon this ranch he built a $95,000 mansion, one of the most beautiful ranch residences and.principal show places of West Texas. He later purchased another 125,000 acre ranch, lying mostly in Carson and partly in Hutch- inson counties. This ranch is about 30 miles east of Amarillo and 15 miles north of Panhandle City. .
Mr. Burnett sold an interest in the Wichita County land to his son, Tom L. Burnett, who for 17 years had had the management of the Wichita County in- terests as well as the large ranch interest in Okla- homa.
The discovery of oil in Wichita County has vastly
enhanced the value of the property there, nearly two hundred producing wells having been located on their ranch and much development still being done.
Mr. Burnett has also invested extensively in Tar- rant County and owns much realty in Fort Worth where he has a beautiful residence and has made his home. He erected the twelve story office building bearing his name which when built was the largest and finest office building in Fort Worth. He is a director and largest stockholder in the First Na- tional Bank of Fort Worth and has extensive inter- ests in many other enterprises of the West Texas metropolis.
Mr. Burnett is the type of men who build empires. a man of great force and energy, keen vision and business sagacity. He was fair in his business deal- ings, public spirited in his activities and generous in his philanthropy. A man of great vitality. He was active at the helm of his vast business interests until past the ripe old age of three score and ten.
Although failing in health he may look back with pardonable pride over a career as picturesque, ro- mantic and interesting as any that may form a chap- ter in the annals of West Texas history.
ILLIAM DAVID REYNOLDS, pioneer cattle- man and well known capitalist, vice-presi- dent of the Reynolds Cattle Company, Ninth and Main Streets, came to Fort Worth from Albany, Texas, in 1903, and during his seventeen years residence in the city has been prominently identified with civic and commercial affairs and has played an important part in the upbuilding of the city.
Although a native of Alabama, having been born there April 22, 1846, Mr. Reynolds removed with his parents to Texas when only one year of age, settling in Shackelford County in Western Texas. His parents were P. W. and Anna M. (Campbell) Reynolds and for many years his father was one of the best known cattlemen and ranchers in West Texas.
Educated in the public schools of Shackelford County, Mr. Reynolds, following in his father's foot- steps, decided early in life to engage in the cattle business and has been in it ever since. The famed "cattle of a thousand hills," might well have referred to his extensive herds in West Texas. In the coun- ties of Throckmorton, Shackelford, Scurry, Borden. Jeff Davis and Culberson, his company owns over 22,000 head and the annual round-up is an important event in these counties. The Reynolds Cattle Com- pany owns 200,000 acres of land and has an almost equal amount under lease for grazing purposes. It is considered one of the most substantial cattle com- panies operating in Texas.
On January 1, 1879, Mr. Reynolds was married at Shackelford to Miss Susie Matthews, a native Texan. They have eight children: G. E., W. D., Jr., Joe M., Watt W., John, Nathan B., Mrs. C. T. Burns and Mrs. R. E. Harding. All of their sons are engaged in the cattle business, Joe being in the office of the Reynolds Cattle Company. Mr. Reynolds is a mem- ber of the Knights of Templar and a charter member of Hella Temple Shrine at Dallas. He is also a member of the Rivercrest Country Club and the Fort Worth Club. His church affiliation is with the First Presbyterian Church. He is a director in the Fort Worth National Bank and a consistent booster for Fort Worth.
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MEN OF TEXAS
R W. HIGGINBOTHAM, Chairman Board of Directors of the Southwest National Bank, one of the largest financial institutions of the state, and president of the Higgin- . :: hin-Bailey-Logan Company which is one of the agest wholesale dry goods concerns in the South, s, well as chief executive in several other big busi- "pases, as the Higginbotham Millinery Co., the 1mes Lumber Co., the Boren-Stewart Wholesale tinwery Co., and a chain of retail stores of general merchandise in western Texas, is one of Dallas' chief capitalists, and builders in big business today.
Mr. Higginbotham was born in Mississippi in 1858; A:s father, John J. Higginbotham, was one of the best known farmers of his section. The public m hool system of his native state provided his book training while a successful business career, beginning aten he was twelve years of age, has developed him :. to the eminent rank he holds today. In his youth his business activity was respectively with the v getable, dairy, and nursery business-all while in his teens. In 1881 he visited Texas; here he foresaw the great business opportunities of the future and accordingly located here. At Dublin, he began a general merchandise store with his brother. It was at until about nine years ago that Mr. Higgin- botham exchanged Dallas for Dublin as his residence. Today retail stores of Higginbotham Bros. & Co. are at Stephenville, Comanche, Dublin, Ballinger, DeLeon, Gorman, Rising Star, Cross Plains, Snyder, Grand Saline and at Texarkana, while as president of the Higginbotham-Bailey-Logan Concern, he h-ads one of the largest wholesale dry goods houses of the South. His investments and adaptable ability have made him a director in the City National Bank, Dallas, president of the Boren-Stewart Wholesale Grocery Co., of the Higginbotham Millinery Co., of the Higginbotham-Barlett Wholesale Lumber Co., and of the Jones Lumber Co., one of the largest re- tail lumber businesses of Dallas, and a large investor in many lumber yards of western Texas. He is identified further with the Higginbotham Bros. Ranch, in Dawson County, comprising 55,000 acres, of which 30,000 acres are held under lease and 25,- 000 acres owned outright.
Mr. Higginbotham is a member of the Hella Temple, A. A. O. N. M. S., the Dallas Country and City Clubs, the Lakewood Country Club and of the Dallas Chamber of Commerce.
ERBERT MARCUS, president of the Nei- man-Marcus Company. Main and Ervay Streets, dealers in ready-made clothing ex- clusively for women and children, has been A potent factor in making his home city the chief retail distributing center of the Southwest and to establish that high standard of commercial integrity which puts Dallas in a class to itself.
The Neiman-Marcus Company has been developed on the ideal of high quality and is known not only in its own section but throughout the United States ¿. " a leader of styles. It was established in 1907 and was incorporated with a capital stock of $50,000 which, in 1920, was increased to $400,000. Four stories of a building a hundred fect square are oc- . upied and more than two hundred and fifty em- royces are used. In every large city there is a glass of discriminating people who can be appealed " only by a distinctive line of goods and it is with this class that the Neiman-Marcus Company has
become a particular favorite. For a number of years it was thought that such centers as New York and Paris were the exclusive birthplace of original styles of the highest type but the record of this enterprise has forever dispelled that idea.
Mr. Marcus was born in Louisville, Kentucky, September 6, 1878. His father, Jacob Marcus, for many years a merchant of Louisville, came to Dal- las, together with his wife, Delia Marcus, in 1896. Mr. Marcus was educated in the public schools of his native city and early in life gave evidence of a remarkable business talent. In 1899 he came to Dallas and was for a number of years connected with various mercantile establishments of that city. The advertising business then engaged his attention for some time. While in this work he conceived the idea of a high class shop for distinctive women's clothing and from that conception the Neiman- Marcus Company has developed.
In 1902 Mr. Marcus was married to Miss Minnie Lichenstein, daughter of M. Lichenstein of Dallas. Four sons, Harold Stanley, Edward, Herbert, Jr., and Lawrence complete the family. The Marcus home is at 2620 South Boulevard.
Mr. Marcus is past chairman of the Southwestern Retail Shoe Dealers Association, member of the Lakewood Country Club, the Columbian Club and the City Club; associated with the Chamber of Com- merce, the Kiwanis Club and the Ad League. He is president of the Temple Emanuel and is chairman of the grand opera committee of Dallas and a mem- ber of the Welfare board of the city of Dallas and the executive committee of the Citizens Association. The mere recital of varied affiliations is sufficient to show the versatility of his interests. He is con- tributor of an article for the Encyclopedia of Texas on "Dallas as a Retail Center."
M. RUBEL, general manager of Sears, Roe- buck & Company, Dallas, is well known among the leading business men of Texas and is executive head of one of the largest merchandising concerns not only in Dallas but in the whole Southwest.
Sears, Roebuck & Company opened their business house in Dallas, November 6, 1906. At that time there were twenty-five people employed. The growth of the business has been remarkable. Today Sears, Roebuck & Company require for the Southwestern trade alone, about one million square feet of floor spaces and have about fifteen hundred employes. The annual volume of business in normal times is in excess of $20,000,000 in Texas and Southern Okla- homa, the territory covered from the Dallas house.
H. M. Rubel has devoted his life time to mer- chandising and came to Dallas from Chicago in the early part of 1913 to assume the position of gen- eral merchandise manager of this company. The latter part of the year he was promoted to his present position of general manager. The great re- sponsibility of this position demands practically all of Mr. Rubels undivided attention, yet he has ever been interested in the civie and social affairs in Dallas and Texas. He is ever called upon for council in regard to matters pertaining to the ad- vancement and development of this section of the state. He is a member of the Chamber of Com- merce and of the various city and country clubs and of the various Masonie bodies.
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A. KEMP, whether viewed banker, capitalist, merchant, railway builder or as a philanthropist, is a star of the first mag- nitude. President of the City National Bank of Commerce, founder of a wholesale grocery business now known as Blair-Hughes, of Wichita
. Falls and Dallas, but of which he is an active di- rector to this day, builder of the Wichita Falls & Southern R. R., of the Wichita Falls & Northwestern R. R., and loved by everybody in a city which proudly calls him "our chief citizen," the genius of J. A. Kemp pervades everything in Wichita Falls. He is president of the Wichita Falls Traction Company, chairman of the board of directors of the Wichita Falls Motor Company, a chief builder of the Kemp Hotel a one-and-a-quarter million dollar structure, the Kemp Apartments, the City National Bank Building, vice-president of Blair-Hughes Wholesale Grocery Co., formerly a director of the Great South- ern Life Insurance Co., and a member of the board of regents of the University of Texas.
Mr. Kemp is a native Texan, born at Clifton, on July 31, 1861. His father, W. T. Kemp, came from Tennessee in the pioneer days; his mother, Mrs. Emma Stinnett Kemp, was a Missourian. Young Kemp was educated in the schools of his home town and since has taken many courses in the university of experience which acknowledges him as one of her most able graduates. In 1883 Wichita Falls be- came the home of this leader of men. He first en- gaged in the mercantile business out of which has grown one of the largest Texas wholesale grocery concerns of today. In 1892 he became president of the City National Bank which had been organ- ized the year before. In the more than a score of years that have since passed, Mr. Kemp has found expression for his ability and usefulness in the various offices he holds today. He is interested in oil developments and especially the gigantic irri- gation project which will place 150,000 acres of land near his city under irrigation and furnish an adequate supply of water for the city of Wichita Falls no matter how large a city it may become. The realization of this aim will easily bring 100,000 people to make their permanent homes in Texas' young giant city.
At Clifton, Texas, in 1882, Miss Flora Anderson, of Clifton, daughter of Captain Allen Anderson, became the bride of Mr. Komp. To them have been born four daughters and one son: Mrs. W. N. Maer, Mrs. W. S. Langford, Mrs. A. B. Boothe and one daughter died after reaching her majority, and Joseph A. Kemp, Jr., who is now in the Hill School of Potstown, Penn., preparing for Princeton Uni- Versity. The home residence is at 906 Grant Street.
Mr. Kemp is a Mason, a thirty-second degree man, K. C. C. H., Dallas Consistory, a member of the Wichita Club and of the Wichita Golf and Country Club.
In the marvelous strides that Wichita Falls has made in the last decade which is calling the attention of all the states to it, J. A. Kemp has been an im- portant factor. He and his influence will be a power through the development of the next genera- tion. Viewed from his talent and ability and his "great heart," for which people everywhere love him, J. A. Kemp is not simply a Texas character, he is one of the big men of the South and of the U. S. A.
F P. LANGFORD, president of the City National Bank of Commerce, director and stockholder in eleven other banks in North Texas and in Oklahoma, and formerly as a member of the firm of Staley, Langford & Chenault, Wichita Falls, which owns already one hundred pro- ducink wells-is a leading capitalist and financier among centers of big business. As one who has been in his city for thirty-five years, as one active in leadership in every good cause, Mr. Langford is easily one of the first citzens in rank in Wichita Falls.
Mr. Langford was born in South Carolina, at New- berry, on October 24, 1861. His parents were Asa Langford and Sarah Sawyer Langford. Newberry College, at his home town, gave the youth his univer- sity education and then he began his business career as a bookkeeper in a store. For two years he re- mained with this connection. In 1888, he was elected County Treasurer and served in this capacity for eight consecutive years. At the expiration of this unusual term of service, he became cashier of the City National Bank, at Wichita Falls, in 1910, he was made active vice president, and when in 1920 his in- stitution combined with the National Bank of Com- merce, he was made active vice president of the new institution known as the City National Bank of Com- merce, and in January, 1922 he was unanimously chosen as president of the bank. Besides his Wichita interests, Mr. Langford is a director of the First State Bank of Electra, the First State Bank of New Castle, the First National Bank of Burk Burnett, the First State Bank of Harrold, and is a stockholder in the Continental Bank of Petrolia, the First National Bank of Byers, the First State Bank at Decatur, the First National Bank of Lamesa, Texas, the Tillman County Bank of Grand- field and the First State Bank of Deval, Oklahoma. The firm of Staley, Langford & Chenault of which Mr. Landford was a partner, brought in over one hundred producing wells that render him an enor- mous daily output. The properties owned by this firm was recently sold for $5,000,000. He is also part owner of the American Refining Company. He is also a director of the American Refining Co., of Wichita Falls.
Mr. Langford was always optimistic as to the development of oil fields around Wichita Falls and has done as much as any other man toward develop- ments.
In 1904, at Huntsville, Texas, Miss Lulu Hyatt be- came the bride of Mr. Langford. They have three children: P. P., Jr., Benjamin H. and Sarah Elizabeth. The family resides at 900 Burnett Street. Mr. Lang- ford is a Knight Templar and a Shriner, of the Maskat Temple. He is a Knight of Pythias, a mem- ber of the Chamber of Commerce, the Wichita Club, Wichita Country Club and the Rod and Gun Club, and by church affiliation a Methodist.
Mr. Langford is really one of Texas' big men.
W. SNIDER, vice-president of the City National Bank, capitalist and oil operator, has been a resident of Wichita Falls since 1910, and is one of the real big men who have contributed so materially to the growth and development of the city. He has been engaged in the banking business about twenty years and is generally considered a man of extraordinary busi- ness ability and judgment, and his career has been one of splendid successes.
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Mr. Snider began his business career in Wichita tuils as cashier of the City National Bank, and was later promoted to his present position. When the new bank building was completed, he was com- issioned with authority to equip the bank's quart- ers and there is not a more modern banking room in the state. He also had charge of the construction of the Kemp Hotel. He is treasurer and director of the Texhoma Oil and Refining Company and a niem- ter of the board of directors of the Wichita Falls and Southern Railroad Company. When a young man he started out in the railroad business, but woon abandoned that for a banking career.
Born in Grinnell, Iowa, July 22, 1871, son of M. M. Snider, he attended the public schools of that state and later took a course in the law department of Drake University.
Mr. Snider was married in Kansas, in 1901. to Miss Grace Duff, a native of that state, and they have one daughter, Helen, and live at 1600 Tenth Street. He is a 32d degree Mason and belongs to Maskat Temple Shrine, and enjoys the pleasures of the Wichita Club and the Wichita Golf and Country Club. The family church affiliation is with the Methodist faith.
W. GARDNER, Wichita Falls, as vice presi- dent of the Wichita State Bank and Trust Company is right at the heart of one of the most prodigious developments in this state w! rapid strides .- the development of Wichita Falls and the West. The Wichita State Bank and Trust Company was organized in 1909; today it has twenty- eight employees, has occupied one of the most mod- ern and beautiful bank buildings since August 2, 1920, when it moved to its new headquarters, and in April of 1920 increased its capitalization from $250,- 000.00 to $600,000.00.
Mr. Gardner was born in Clarinda, Iowa, on Sep- tember the first, 1879. His father M. J. Gardner was a business man and farmer in that state. His mother is Allie Harlin Gardner, also a native of Iowa. Ap- preciating the advantages of a new and rapidly de- veloping country, the family moved to Texas in 1897, and settled at Wichita Falls. The Iowa schools had afforded young Gardner his education. He grad- uated from the Quincy, Ill., Commercial College in 1:00. Upon reaching Texas, with his father and brother he began the ranching business in Wichita and Clay Counties; they specialized in the highest grade of Hereford cattle. For this they equipped themselves with a 6,000 acre ranch and raised the feed required for the herds. In 1912, he took the pisition of Cashier for the Wichita State Bank; in 1:19, he was promoted to the vice presidency. In ad- dition to his banking interests, Mr. Gardner still re- tains his farming interests in Wichita County.
On November 14, 1914, at Whitesboro, Texas, Miss Enberta Bolton, daughter of Robert Bolton. well known business man of Grayson County, became the bride of Mr. Gardner. They have three daughters- Beulah, Helen and Evelyn. The family reside at 1705 lucile Street.
Mr. Gardner is a member of the Chamber of Com- merce, the Wichita Golf Club, the Forest Country. 'lub, and is a thirty-second degree Mason, of the Dallas Consistory, and a member of the Maskat shrine. He was a Director for the Wichita Falls Gab during 1920.
As one who is right at the heart of a big develop- ment and equipped with talent, ability and means as
is he, Mr. Gardner has a sure place among the men of larger usefulness for his city and state.
DWARD A. SHOWERS, formerly assistant cashier for the City National Bank of Com- nierce, Wichita Falls, is one of the most active and enterprising young bankers in north Texas.
Mr. Showers was born in Texas in 1897; his father, A. W. Showers, is a retired farmer and ranchman now living at Terrell, Texas, and was a native of Illinois who came to Texas about 1871; his mother was a native Texan. After completing the com- mon school system, Mr. Showers attended Austin College and then came to Dallas for commercial training. His business career began with the Na- tional Bank at Vernon, Texas, where he was first employed as a Clerk, then as Bookkeeper, and then as Assistant Cashier in which capacity he served from February of 1914 until June of 1918. On June 17, 1918, Mr. Showers entered military service as a private with the 111 Sanitary Train, Thirty-sixth Division, one month later sailed for France where he landed on July 31, 1918, and was transferred to the Infantry; in this service he was wounded on October 19, 1918,-in the right hand, and was not sent back on duty until November 8, 1918. On Decem- ber 27, 1918, he was sent back to the Hospital on account of sickness and was successively transferred to seventeen different Hospitals until returning to the U. S. in March, 1919. On April 7, 1919, he was discharged. It was then he came to Wichita Falls and began with the City National Bank of Conimerce as a Teller, April 24, 1919, and served in that capaci- ty until January, 1920, when he was chosen Assis- tant Cashier. He continued in this capacity until he resigned from his position to engage in the banking business elsewhere.
OM C. CORRIDON, JR., Cashier of the First National Bank, Iowa Park, is among the most aggressive of the banking profession in his district. The First National Bank was organized in 1900, with a capital at that time of $25,000.00. Present day capitalization is $100,000.00, with a Surplus of $50,000 and Undivided Profits of $36,431.06. Associated with the bank as its direct- ing officers are C. Birk, of Iowa Park, and J. F. Boyd, vice-president. There are seven employees with the institution.
Mr. Corridon is a native of his present city; he was born there on July 11, 1889. His parents, Tom Corridon Sr. and Margaret (Thompson) Corridon, came to Texas in 1880 and located in Iowa Park in 1888. The public school system of his home town gave the lad his education. In 1906, he began work in a grocery store of Wichita Falls where he re- mained for four years. In 1910, he returned to Iowa Park and became engaged in the confectionery business until 1912. He then went back to Wichita Falls but for only one year, returning in 1913 to his home city again where he resumed his confectionery business for two more years. In 1915, Mr. Corridon became associated with the First National Bank of Iowa Park as Bookkeeper. In 1920, he was elected cashier.
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