The encyclopedia of Texas, V.1, Part 65

Author: Davis, Ellis Arthur, ed; Grobe, Edwin H., ed
Publication date: 1922
Publisher: Dallas, Texas Development Bureau
Number of Pages: 1204

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Two hundred employes are used, including eight traveling salesmen and the stock is housed in a two- story building seventy-five by a hundred and eighty feet. In addition to this a wholesale house at the corner of Ross and Lamar having a floor space of 75,000 square feet is maintained. A stock valued at approximately $1,000,000 is carried. The firm is making plans for an extensive addition, nearly doubling the present retail floor space.

Mr. Philp was born in Burleson County, October 7, 1874. His father, William Philp, brother of Simon Philp, founder of the company, was born in Eng- land and was brought to Texas at the age of seven. His mother, Mary Carroll Philp, was a sister of John W. Carroll, one of the early members of the United States Senate and of Rev. B. H. Carroll, D. D., one of the most prominent Baptist ministers of the South and founder of the Theological Department of Bay. lor University. When only four months old Mr. Philp was brought to Dallas and reared by his uncle, Simon Philp. He was educated in the Dallas public schools, Southwestern University of Georgetown, Texas, Stanton Military Academy, of Stanton, Vir- ginia, and in the School of Law of the University of Texas. He began with the present firm in 1895 in a clerical capacity and worked through various positions until 1900. For ten years he traveled with commercial lines and in the advertising business in the northwestern portion of the United States. In 1907 he returned to Dallas and engaged in various lines including printing for four years. In 1911 he went into the financial brokerage business where he remained for nearly ten years looking after his own interests. In 1919 he went with the firm again, this time participating in the active management.

In 1898 Mr. Philp was married to Miss Lillie May Smith of Dallas, whose father, the late T. H. Smith, was in the insurance business in Dallas. There are two children, William and Margaret. The Philp resi- dence is at 5420 Bryan.

Mr. Philp is a director of the Southland Life In- surance Company, past president of the ex-Students Association of the University of Texas; member and for four years director of the Dallas Chamber of Commerce; first national councilman representing the Dallas Chamber of Commerce with the U. S. Chamber of Commerce and for four years director of the latter organization; member of the Knights of Columbus; Master of 4th degree for northern dis- triet of Texas; member of the Dallas Country Club,

City Club, of the University Club and ex-president . : the Kiwanis Club; member of the Kappa Alpha Fraternity of the University of Texas and president of the Dallas Alumni Chapter; member of the Catho .- lie Church and former vice-president of the Amer ican Federation of Catholic Societies.

In January, 1922, President Harding appointed Mr. Philp to the office of postmaster at Dallas.

The mere enumeration of the various activities with which Mr. Philp is associated is a sufficient comment on the wide variety of his public interests. Than John W. Philp, the Republican party has not had in Texas a more loyal and completely devoted exponent. In 1914 he was the Republican nominee for governor and for a number of years he has been a party leader in his home state.

ECTOR McEACHIN, president and general manager of the Dallas County Abstract Company, heads an enterprise upon which hinges the destinies of many other avenues of trade and commerce, and without which trade in real estate would stagnate and die. By his fore- sight and energy he has built up a business which is keeping pace with the exacting demands of a growing, bustling city.

Within the past few years the business of com- piling abstracts has leaped into unparalleled promi- nence in Dallas, due probably to the Texas oil activity and to the unprecedented growth of the city itself, and the Dallas County Abstract Com- pany, with Mr. McEachin as its able head, has leaped to meet the emergency. Associated with him are M. W. Chanin and R. F. Wells. The firm com- piles all abstracts of properties in Dallas and Dallas County, doing an enormous business and proving an asset of no small value to the city and county. There may have been a time when real abstractors were not indispensable, but that time is not now and will never be again. The demand is insistent, and the Dallas County Abstract Company, with men of the type of Mr. McEachin to guarantee the most efficient service, goes a long way toward meeting the requirements.

Mr. McEachin is a son of Peter H. McEachin, a planter, and Hattie Gunter McEachin. Born on a plantation in Montgomery County, Albama, Decem- ber 20, 1878, he was educated in the private and rural schools of North Carolina, to which state the father moved while the son was yet young, gradu- ating in 1893.

In the same year the young man took up the oc- cupation which his father pursued, and for ten years thereafter followed this agricultural bent. Then. in the year 1903, Mr. McEachin came to Dallas. In 1905 he entered the abstracting business with S. W. S. Duncan, with whom he remained for two years, when the former became connected with the Con- solidated Abstract Company, a connection which was terminated eleven years later. In 1918 Mr. Mc- Eachin organizel the Dallas County Abstract Com- pany and became its president and manager.

June 25, 1906, saw the consummation of his mar- riage with Miss Renie Truitt of this county. They are living at 4318 Thomas Avenue and have three daughters, Misses Hattie, Edith and Mary Frances McEachin.

Mr. McEachin adheres to the principles of the Democratic party. He is an active member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is prominent in the affairs of the Chamber of Commerce and Manufacturers' Association.

278

MEN OF TEXAS

UGH E. PRATHER, vice-president and man- ager, Flippen-Prather Realty Company, is a native of Dallas and a builder who has helped to make it "a city beautiful." The Highland Park Addition to the city, which, it is said, surpasses in scenic beauty and picturesqueness the residence section of any city in the country, com- prises 1,375 acres, and was acquired by the Flippen- Prather Realty Company in 1907. The property was laid out in residence sites by David Cook, noted city planner and landscape artist of Los Angeles, and its natural streams, spanned by many concrete and ornamental bridges, its rock-cragged cliffs, native trees and wide boulevards make it one of the prettiest spots in the country. In it are located some of the costliest and most commodious homes to be found in any city in the country, the beautiful Country Club building and the girls' dormitory of Southern Methodist University. One hundred acres of the site runs south to the beautiful Mocking Bird Lane. The property was originally owned by J. L. Armstrong and was bought from the Armstrong estate by the Flippen-Prather Company.

A 500-acre sub-division to Highland Park is now being laid out, the work being in charge of George E. Kessler, city plan man of Dallas, who built the Kansas City park boulevard system, and it is proposed to make this sub-division even more beau- tiful than the Highland Park addition, if such a thing is possible.

Mr. Prather has taken a great deal of pride in the development of this property and devotes prac- tically all of his time to it. Many of the prettiest homes located therein were planned and built by his company, and many more are in process of con- struction. Highland Park is a separate municipality and has a population of more than 3,000 people. It is one of the show places of the city and no visit here is complete unless a trip is made through this beautiful section. Dallas people are proud of it and take great pride in showing it to their friends who come to the city from other places.

HOMAS J. JONES, dealer in real estate, loans and insurance, has been an active ad- herent of the insurance business of this city since 1887. One of the early settlers, so to speak, he may be grouped with that set of men to whom Dallas owes a great portion of her present wealth and industrial development. His ability along the line of insurance valuation is unquestioned and his influence in that field is very great in this por- tion of the state.

A native son of Kansas, Thomas J. Jones was born at the city of Emporia on the first of May, 1867. He is a son of Evan L. Jones, a pioneer Kansas farmer and land owner who was well known for his activity in the agricultural line. The younger Mr. Jones received his early educational training in the country schools of his native state which was adequately supplemented by a course of intensive study at the. Kansas State Normal, of Emporia. In 1887 he came to Texas, locating at Dallas, where he was made the agent for the Kansas City Invest- ment Company, which dealt exclusively with farm loans. From 1890 to 1915 the major portion of his time was devoted to the upbuilding of the Mosher Manufacturing Company, of which he was one of the founders. During this time he served as secretary and treasurer of the company and a great part of its present success is due to his untiring efforts. Dur-

ing this time he was instrumental in the organizing of the Dallas Rapid Transit Railway Company, which was at first a company operating steam railway lines but later changed to the electric. He was the first cashier of this company and his efforts re- sulted in the rapid development of a number of the outlying districts of this city. The company ex- tended its lines to the Chestnut Hill Additions and the Edgewood and South Park Additions and is re- sponsible in a large part for the rapid development of the fair grounds district, where they operated a railway car. In 1914 he was made vice-president and treasurer of the National Temperance Life .In- surance Company and in the following year was made the Texas manager of the Waddell Investment Company. Since that time he has devoted all of his time to loans and insurance and at the present time is the head of one of the largest concerns of its kind in this city.

In November of 1890 Mr. Jones married Miss Grace Mosher, daughter of Theodore Mosher of this city, founder of the Mosher Manufacturing Com- pany. They are the parents of five children: Mrs. J A. Chenault, Theodore E., Wilbur S., Lawrence B., Elizabeth G., and Howard A. Jones. Mr. Jones is very active in church affairs being a member of the First Congregational Church of this city, ex- chairman of the state committee on Congregational Work, secretary of the Central American Mission and a member of the State Sunday School Com- mittee.

OSEPH W. COOPER as Secretary-Treasurer of the Seay-Cranfill Company of 1011 Com- merce Street, has a rich experience in hand- ling additions to the cities of Dallas, El Paso, Galveston and Waco. Other members of the firm are Tom E. Cranfill, President, and Albert R. King, Vice-President. The corporation has a capital of $100,000.00. While the firm does do down-town business their specialty is additions. Dallas addi- tions of this corporation are Belmont, a high class residence section with about 300 lots, Ross Avenue and Trinity Heights which have proven so attractive and have been so well managed that popular de- mand for Seay-Cranfill homes has so increased that this company has gone back into these districts and reopened additions a second and even a third time until they have totalled nearly 3,000 lots in these two localities. Six salesmen are maintained in addition to the office force.

Mr. Cooper was born in Mississippi, Jan. 21, 1875, and in the same year the family moved to Ellis Coun- ty, Texas. His parents, Joseph P. Cooper and Alva E. Cooper are well known as pioneers in their sec- tion of the state. At an early age, Joseph W. Coop- er began his acquaintance with the abstract busi- ness, at Waxahachie, Texas, and for sixteen years he continued in this business. In October of 1907, he came to Dallas where he began the abstract busi- ness with Mr. S. W. S. Duncan. With this firm he remained for six years. In 1913, Mr. Cooper be- came affiliated with the firm of which to-day he is the Secretary-Treasurer.

In 1901, Mr. Cooper married Miss Rosa Peevey of Waxahachie, Texas. They, with their two daughters Eleanor and Elsie, reside at 221 North Rosemont Avenue in Oak Cliff.

Mr. Cooper is a member of the Chamber of Com- merce and is one of Dallas' leading realty men. He is a thirty second degree Mason, a member of Hella Temple Shrine and Scottish Rite.

279

ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS

S TERLING P. STRONG, for years one of Texas' most prominent men in the political arena for civic righteousness, has a place surpassed by none in putting the Lone Star State among the dry states as ex-superintendent of the Anti-Saloon League, director of the prohibition drives for several seasons, and as a lecturer and journalist known and honored by all Texas. And yet, Mr. Strong is not a politician-he has always been a business man. He is president of the Gar- rison Coal and Oil Company with headquarters at 503 Insurance Building, which operates in Texas and Louisiana. Other members of the firm are B. M. Halfield and W. M. Leggett, vice-presidents, and True Strong, secretary and treasurer of the com- pany. The principal oil holdings are in Louisiana, while the ore holdings are the celebrated Desoto and Bull Bayou districts with coal operations near Gar- rison, Nachodoches County, which have an output of 100 ton a day. The company has hundreds of acres bearing coal strata only thirty feet below the surface and varying from five to eight feet in thick- ness, besides a number of producing wells.

Mr. Strong hails from Missouri, Jefferson City, where he was born August 17, 1862. His parents were James A. Strong and Manerva J. Pittman Strong. While their son was still small, they moved to Montague County, Texas, where Sterling P. was educated in the public schools and then sent to East- man College. For ten years, from 1886-1888 and then from 1896-1904, Mr. Strong was county clerk of Montague County. In 1904, he organized the National Bank of Bowie of which he was cashier for three years. In 1908, he came to Dallas to lead the state campaign for prohibition. He was made superintendent of the Anti-Saloon League of Texas and remained in this work for two and a half years. In 1911 he returned to private life, going into his . present business.

Mr. Strong married Miss Alice True on January 23, 1887. Five children have been born to them: Ruth, Esther, Jessie M., James W. and Sterling P. Jr., who died at the age of 22. They reside at 112 East Brooklyn Avenue. Of course a man so promi- nent and worthy is a Mason, a Shriner of Hella Temple, a Knight Templar.

Mr. Strong is the type of character that the in- spired writers of old perhaps had in mind when they penned the sentence, "There were giants in those days." Like a Gideon or a David of old. he has proven that in the twentieth century a plain citizen may turn from his business to save his state, win a lasting victory for civic righteousness, and then return to the ranks of the common people. In such men is Democracy's safeguard and crown.

RTHUR HARRIS SMITH, of the Dallas Mortgage and Realty Co., 109 Mastin Street, Dallas, Texas, was born in Birmingham, Alabama, February 6, 1892, and came to Hillsboro, Texas, with his parents in October, 1894. He was educated in the public schools of Hillsboro and Hico, Texas, also Randles Academy at Hico. Texas, Meridian College, Meridian, Texas, and the Southwestern University at Georgetown, Texas.

He taught in the public schools of Texas for four years, beginning as grade teacher and advancing to the rank of high school superintendent. He was very successful in this work and contributes his success largely to the fact that he was able to take the lead with his pupils in all athletics and amateur

shows which he frequently put on with the assist- ance of his pupils.

Leaving the teaching profession in 1916 Mr. Smith sold automobiles for one year and then became asso- ciated with the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Co., for the purpose of learning the rubber business and the business methods of large corporations.

In the summer of 1918 Mr. Smith joined the Times Square Auto Supply Co., as salesman and tire ad- juster, and within a very short time was promoted to manager of the Dallas branch of that firm. It was here that he became known and recognized as one of the leading young business men of the city. While with the Times Square Auto Supply Co., he built the Dallas branch up from a small retail store to a large wholesale establishment in less than two and a half years time.

In January, 1920, he won a loving cup in New York City over all the other stores of this company, for producing the best window display in the organi- zation. Chicago won second place in the contest.

Mr. Smith has, from boyhood, cherished a desire for the real estate business, therefore at the be- ginning of this year he became associated with the Dallas Mortgage and Realty Co., which is one of the leading real estate firms of the city, here he is buying and selling property for himself as well as for others, and also building houses for sale. He is making a remarkable success of this business and his many friends expect soon to see him become one of the leading realtors of the city.

On August 24, 1913, Mr. Smith was married to Miss Lillian Petree, of Hamilton, Texas. Mrs. Smith is a native Texan, she was educated at the public schools of Hamilton, Meridian College, Meridian. Texas, and the Southwestern University at George- town, Texas. Mr. and Mrs. Smith have one son, Paul, aged 6 years, who is very popular with the many friends of the Smith family. Mrs. Smith's parents and sister's constitute one of the prominent families of Hamilton, Texas, and Mr. Smith's family ranks as one of the most prominent in Meridian, Texas.

Mr. Smith is a member of the Dallas Automobile Club and Kiwanis Club and is an ardent supporter of every practical movement for civic and moral im- provement.

ARL GEORGE PETERSON, vice-president and manager of the Commerce Farm Credit Company, Southwestern Life Building, is especially fitted for the responsible position he holds with one of the largest organizations in the South. Mr. Peterson has been in the business world for about sixteen years, the greater part of which has been devoted to the mortgage loan busi- ness. His sterling characteristics, integrity and sound business methods have attained for him the reputation and position which he now holds. Other officials of this company are W. T. Kemper, of Kansas City, president, and Townley Culbertson, vice-president, B. O. Taylor, of Amarillo, assistant secretary.

The Commerce Farm Credit Company was incor- porated in the fall of 1915, offices being established in Dallas. Later with growth of business branch offices at Amarillo and San Antonio. Their business is to make loans on Texas farms and ranches which range in amount from $1,000 and up to several hun- dred thousand dollars, operations extending over the greater part of north-central, south and west Texas. The Dallas office employs five men with two

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Sterling Strong

MEN OF TEXAS

each in the branch offices at Amarillo and San An- tonio. The organization is associated with the Com- merce Trust Company at Kansas City, one of the largest banking institutions in the United States. The Commerce Farm Credit Company handles all Texas farm and ranch loans for the Commerce Trust Company. Mr. Peterson is in charge of operations.

Mr. Peterson was born in Chicago, January 24, 1889, and is the son of P. C. Peterson, at that time commission and brokerage merchant, moving to Minnesota. His mother, Karen Hyldahl, as well as his father was a native of Denmark. When he was very young his parents moved to Minnesota where his father was for many years treasurer of Lincoln County and later in the banking business in Minne- sota. He was educated in the public schools of Tyler, Minnesota, and upon finishing his schooling went at once into the business world, thrown upon his own resources. He has been associated with the Commerce Farm Credit Company for five years, be- ing in the San Antonio office before coming to Dallas.

His marriage to Miss Ethel L. Lynch, of San An- tonio, daughter of J. M. Lynch, a ranchman and business man of San Antonio, took place in that city in October of 1911. Mr. and Mrs. Peterson have one son, Carl Leslie, and one daughter, Idella K., and their home is at 5737 Palo Pinto Street.

Mr. Peterson is a thirty-second degree Scottish Rite Mason and member of Hella Temple Shrine, a member of San Antonio Blue Lodge No. 1079, San Antonio, Consistory No. 5, the Dallas Athletic Club, and the Methodist Church. He is a splendid type of citizen, progressive and ambitious, and interested in the welfare of the community.

LFRED LUCAS HODGE, real estate broker, with office at 420 Wilson Building, Dallas, Texas, a Texas pioneer, is identified with some of the largest and oldest real estate deals ever consummated in Dallas, among them being the old Avenue Heights Addition of 190 acres that was put on the market many years ago; his resi- dence at 4711 Swiss Avenue is the first house that was built on that tract that today is one of the foremost residential districts of that growing metropolis and that is little thought of by the multi- tudes of people that reside there as the unceasing work of a pioneer-Alfred Hodge.

Mr. Hodge was born in Hartford, Connecticut, on the thirteenth day of August, 1842, his parents are Lyman F. Hodge and Sarah Ann (Day). His only schooling was had in the public schools of Massa- chusetts, which was very meager, at that time edu- cational advantages were not to be had as the chil- dren of today are offered. At the age of fourteen years he decided it was time for him to face the hardships of the world unaided, so he left home and went to Suffolk, Connecticut, where he secured work on a farm. After he had worked on the farm a number of years he was employed as a cigar maker and worked at this trade until he was twenty-five years old. In the fifties he moved to Chicago where he engaged in the manufacture of cigars for himself and drove a peddler's wagon selling his brand from Chicago to Green Bay, Wisconsin, and making a success of his first enterprise in the business world.

Dallas, Texas, with a picturesque group of cow ponies tied on the rails of the famous Texan saloons, and the flying dust of a galloping pony stifling the air, hot from the continued beating of the summer sun from a turquoise sky, first glimpse the pioneer

in 1864, when he was engaged as a salesman for Peet Brothers Company to sell their brand of soap among the Texans. For six years he sold soap and had his headquarters in Dallas, but decided to enter the cigar manufacturing business there and so in 1870 he opened up a shop on Main Street, which has long since been gone and a large magnificent building now stands in its place. A year or two later he saw the possibilities of a real estate firm in Dallas and opened up an office in the center of town where some of the largest transactions in the history of the city have been made.

In 1891 he handled the real estate transactions on the old Windsor and McCloud Hotels and man- aged them for five years. The Metropolitan Avenue Addition, owned by his sister, and the Avenue Heights Addition, were two additions to Dallas that were put on the market by Alfred Lucas, and that have grown to be unrecognizable since.

The golden wedding anniversary of Alfred Lucas Hodge and Althea (Hayes) Hodge was celebrated in 1916, fifty years from their wedding day, which was in 1866.

A charter, issued years ago to the Woodmen of the World of Dallas, bears the name of Alfred Lucas Hodge as one of the charter members of the or- ganization. He is also a member of the B. P. O. Elks and the Travelers' Association.

Although the years have advanced rapidly and he has always taken an active part in business and social life, that everlasting youth springs up anew in the heart of Alfred Lucas when he realizes the still unlimited possibilities of Dallas as he realized them forty-six years ago when he first saw the tur- quoise skies of Texas.

AVID MURRAY, proprietor of the Murray Realty Company, 310 Deere Building, has been engaged in the real estate business in Dallas for more than thirty years, a length of continuous service probably not excelled by any other real estate man in Dallas. Mr. Murray specializes in homes and residence property and his long experience and close application to the business has made him a recognized expert in real estate values.

Mr. Murray is a native of Scotland and was born in Laird County, Southerland Highland, September 23, 1859. He was educated in the schools of Aberdeen, Murray House and the University of Edinburgh and in 1882 removed to Canada where he remained until 1888. He traveled all over Canada with the exception of the Yukon and in 1888 came to Dallas and began work as a stenographer and in his spare time read law. He was admitted to the bar of Texas, practised for two years and then went into the real estate business in which he has been engaged ever since.

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The encyclopedia of Texas, V.1, Part 65

Author: Davis, Ellis Arthur, ed; Grobe, Edwin H., ed Publication date: 1922 Publisher: Dallas, Texas Development Bureau Number of Pages: 1204

Author: Davis, Ellis Arthur, ed; Grobe, Edwin H., ed
Publication date: 1922
Publisher: Dallas, Texas Development Bureau
Number of Pages: 1204