The encyclopedia of Texas, V.1, Part 72

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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He is a Dallas booster.

· 304

MEN OF TEXAS

RVIN L. KRAMER, proprietor of Pike and Kramer, jewelers, 1400 Main Street, has for many years been well known in the business world of Dallas. The company was estab- lished in 1912 by Mr. Kramer and E. L. Pike and has continued under that name though Mr. Pike died on January 24, 1920. The Pike and Kramer Company does retail business and manufactures jewelry. It specializes in diamonds, platinum and solid gold jewelry only. The firm has nine employees and en- ploys an extra force for the holiday season.

Mr. Kramer was born at Louisville, Kentucky, on July 19, 1875. His father was Morris Kramer and his mother's maiden name was Julia Weill. He re- ceived his education from the Louisville public schools. In 1889 the family moved to Dallas and his father died the same year. Mr. Kramer worked for Sanger Brothers for three years after he came to Dallas. Then he went into the cigar business, doing wholesale and retail business. Seventeen years later, in 1912, he went into partnership with Mr. Pike and Pike and Kramer, jewelers, was established.

In 1902 he was married to Miss Mae F. Fechenback of Dallas. They are the parents of one child, a girl, Juanita. The family resides at 2635 South Boule- vard.

Mr. Kramer is a member of the Hella Temple Shrine and is past president and now director of the Columbian Club. He is also a member of the City Club and the Lakewood Country Club.

Mr. Kramer takes active interest in all business and civic affairs of Dallas.

RVIN H. WEIL, owner of I. H. Weil & Co., ladies' and children's ready to wear, corner of Murphy and Elm Streets, has built up a business that enjoys both local and out-of- town trade. His excellent line of merchandise is offered to the public at remarkably reasonable prices, which is the outstanding feature of the popu- larity of his establishment, and results in a daily influx of customers from the city and smaller towns both near and far. B. F. Lewis is part owner of this firm, and has charge of all advertising and is assistant store manager.

Mr. Weil came to Dallas, March, 1919, from Mem- phis, Tennessee, for the purpose of organizing this business. He was fortunate in securing for his location a site convenient to every street car in the city and in the very heart of the smart shopping district. The concern occupies three floors and base- ment of a building 75 by 100 feet, and handles ladies' and children's ready-to-wear goods, shoes, millinery and dress goods. The store has won a name for prompt deliveries and courteous attention to customers.

Benjamin Franklin Lewis, partner of the firm, has been in Dallas for two years, coming here from Memphis, Tenn., to become associated with this firm. Mr. Lewis has spent twelve years in retail ready-to-wear .business, formerly general superin- tendent of Bry-Bloch & Co., of Memphis for three years.

Huntsville, Alabama, is Mr. Weil's birthplace. His father, H. Weil, was for many years a promi- nent and successful dealer in general merchandise at that city, and is now deceased, after having re- tired from business. His mother was Miss Bell Wertheimer, of Cineinnati, Ohio. Mr. Weil attended the Huntsville schools and later the Cincinnati Schools from which he graduated in 1906. For two

years following he engaged in the banking business in Alabama, leaving this to form a connection with the Bry-Bloch Company, a large mercantile firm of Memphis, Tennessee. It was while he was with this company that he became associated with Mr. Lewis, his present partner, and the two came to Dallas together to open up their ready-to-wear establishment.

Mr. Weil was married in January of 1920, to Miss Helen Schweich, of St. Louis, daughter of M. J Schweich, the wedding taking place at the Statler Hotel. Mr. and Mrs. Weil make their home at 5039 Swiss Avenue, Munger Place.

Mr. Weil is an Elk, a member of Bnai Brith, the Columbia Club, Lakewood Country Club, City Club Chamber of Commerce and Temple Emanu-El.

AMES B. POWERS, general superintendent of Sears, Roebuck & Co., is the son of J. E. and Jennie Early Powers, who came to Dallas in the 80's from Kentucky.

It may be mentioned here, with striking emphasis, and regard for a truthful estimate of the sometime extraordinary coincidence of circumstances, that James B. Powers is, through and through, a Dallas product. Born in Dallas on September 22, 1887; educated in the public schools of Dallas; given his first employment in Dallas, in the local office of the H. & T. C. Ry-where he worked for eighteen months -and then, by that unseen fate which guides the destinies of men, introduced to his life-work in the Dallas house of Sears, Roebuck & Company, whose service he entered in 1906-at the age of nine- teen years-in the capacity of office boy, at a time when Sears, Roebuck & Company could boast of not more than twenty-five employees-he grew up with that wonderful Dallas organization, until today, at the age of thirty-three, Mr. Powers, one time off.ce boy, is general superintendent of the largest mer- chandising concern not only in Dallas, but in the whole Southwest, a concern that requires for its Southwestern trade alone 1,500,000 square feet of floor space, a concern that provides a livelihood for 2,500 loyal Dallas citizens, all working under Mr. Powers' supervision, a concern that does an annual business in excess of 20 millions of dollars.

To digress, for a moment, from the personal, what more forceful reminder could be suggested of that trite pronouncement, "Sow your crop and reap your harvest after its kind." Admittedly, there is no alchemy of transforming the servile dust of op- portunity into the pure gold of success except through achievement, paying the price withal.

Such is the story of one man's career.

And man-

"How poor, how rich, how abject, how august, How complicate, how wonderful is Man!" or, as Pope proclaims-

"Created half to rise, and half to fall

Great lord of all things, yet a prey to all;

Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurled;

The glory, jest and riddle of the world."

Not as the "tinsel clink of compliment," but, may- hap, by way of inspiration to better things, to some ' courageous youth yet "in his salad days, green in judgment," this sketch will serve some useful pur- pose in the telling -- for

"One good deed dying tongueless

Slaughters a thousand waiting upon that."

Mr. Powers is a Shriner, a member of the Cham- ber of Commerce and the Dallas Country Club. He resides at 4914 Worth Street, Dallas.

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ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS

TTO. H. LANG, senior member of the firm of Lang & Witchell, architects, and struc- tural engineers, with offices in the Amer- ican Exchange Bank Building, is one of the really great architeets of the South and during his residence in Dallas of more than thirty years few large buildings have been erected in the city of which he was not the chief designer.

The firm of Lang & Witchell was organized in 1905 and began at once to handle the big propositions of construction. Among the larger buildings which they have designed are the Texas & Pacific Station, Fort Worth, and in Dallas, the Bryan Street high school, the Y. M. C. A., the Sanger Building, the Southwestern Life Building, the American Ex- change Building, the Magnolia Building, the Sears & Robuck Building, the Adolphus Annex, the Jeffer- son Hotel-in fact to mention all the buildings which stand as monuments to the architectural genius of the firm would be practically to name all the large buildings in the city of Dallas. Nor has their work been confined to their home city but they have to their credit at least three county court houses in the state and the Municipal Court House at Houston.

Mr. Lang was born in Freiburg, province of Baden, Germany, December 2, 1864. His parents were Wil- liam and Bertha (Haegelin) Lang. He was educated in the department of architecture and engineering of the University of Karlsruhe. Germany. When he was twenty-four years old he came to America and located shortly afterwards in Dallas where he has since remained with the exception of two years spent in the Texas & Pacific engineer's office at Marshall, Texas. For fifteen years he was structural engineer for the Texas & Pacific Railroad, continuing in that position until 1905 when the present firm was organ- ized. For four years, 1915-19, he served as commis- sioner of streets and public property of Dallas.

Just before leaving Germany for America in 1888, Mr. Lang was married to Miss Felize Freedenburg, of Karlsruhe, Germany. In 1903 Mrs. Lang died, leaving a son, William J., and two daughters who are now Mrs. Graham H. Frost and Mrs. O. B. Freeman. The Lang residence is at 4811 Swiss Avenue.

Mr. Lang is a Mason of high standing, having taken degrees in both the York and Scottish Rite, and is a Shriner and a Knight Templar. He is a member of the Lakewood Country Club, the Rotary Club and the University Club. He has done much for the advancement of his profession in Texas through his association with the Technical Club, the Texas Association of Architects and the American Society of Civil Engineers. Along with this and above it all he is a staunch, loyal American citizen and one who showed the depth of his sincerity in the hour of a national crisis.

RANK O. WITCHELL, of the firm of Lang and Witchell, architects and constructional engineers, American Exchange National Bank Building, has been called Dallas' fore- most architeet. Mr. Witchell is one of the men who has built the sky line of Dallas, and is everywhere recognized as a master of construction and designing.

He came to Dallas in 1898 from San Antonio and entered the employ of Sanquinett & Stoots as de- signer. His splendid work with this firm brought him fame, and when in 1904 he decided to form a partnership with Otto Lang and enter the building business for himself, his plans were met with instant enthusiasm by the public. He is one of the busiest men in the city, and his work is in constant demand.

Among the imposing sky scrapers erected by this company are the American Exchange National Bank Building, the Adolphus Annex, Cotton Exchange Building, Southwestern Life Building, Southland Life Building, Texas and Pacific general office building. Masonic Temple on Main street, and many smaller buildings and residences. At present the firm has under construction with Alfred C. Bosson, the Mag- nolia office building, which will be a twenty-eight story structure, the Dallas County Bank and office building, and a twelve story addition to the Jefferson Hotel, the original building having been erected by them also. They are the architects for a new Athletic Club Building. The immense building occupied by Sears-Roebuck was designed by this firm. Their splendid achievements in this city attracted the at- tention of other cities. They were appointed archi- tects for the court house at Houston, the Raleigh Hotel at Waco, and have erected many court houses and public buildings in other Texas towns.

A native of Wales, Mr. Witchell was brought to the United States by his parents when he was two years old. His people settled in San Antonio, where he was reared and educated, remaining there until 1898 when he came to Dallas to form his association with San- quinett & Stoots. His move to this city was a sig- nificant one. His genius and skill met with the recognition which they deserved. Dallas was at that time just on the eve of vast prosperity; a new and auspicious order of things prevailed, resulting in a building epoch of much magnitude. The firm of Lang & Witchell erected buildings that must repre- sent durability and permanence.

Many of the finest architectural structures of Texas will be lasting monuments to the skill and in- tegrity of Mr. Witchell.

RED A JONES, consulting and construct- ing engineer, Interurban Building, Dallas, Texas, has built more of the sky-scrapers of Texas and placed into each an imperishable beauty as well as an eternal stability than has prob- ably any other builder. In fact, whether one's gaze rests upon Dallas, Houston, Galveston, Corpus Christi, El Paso, Ranger, Eastland,-or upon the great interurban systems that ply the country, the biggest telephone exchanges, the largest reservoirs of a state,-or whether the eyes are lifted to states beyond the Mississippi, one beholds the handiwork of one and the same man-Fred A. Jones, the premier builder. There is art in stone and steel, and this man has discovered their beauty as well as their strength and usefulness, so that some of the most beautiful structures in the South are credited to him.

Fred A. Jones is a native of Dallas, he was born ir that city on August 23, 1875. His parents are Frank Jones and Nannie E. (Hunt) Jones, natives of Missouri. The father came to Texas as a lumberman with the Wni. Cameron interests. His brothers are the Hon. Frank C. Jones, brilliant lawyer, a thirty- third degree Mason, a former law partner of Gov- ernor Hogg, and C. A. Jones, a merchant of Green- ville, Texas. When he was three years of age, the family moved to Bonham where the youth was accordingly educated, graduating from Fannin Col- lege, an academy, at the age of fifteen. He then at- tended and graduated from Richmond College, Vir- ginia, receiving his B. A. degree from that institu- tion in 1894; he next enrolled in Cornell University to take professional courses and in 1898 he received

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MEN OF TEXAS

the degree of electrical and mechanical engineer. He then began miscellaneous engineering and sur- veying in North Texas and took later the student's course of the General Electric Company at Schnecta- dy, N. Y. For two years he was with the General Electric Company in the testing and railway engi- neering departments. In January, 1902, Mr. Jones opened an engineering office in Houston. He served as consulting engineer, building the Southern Pacific Terminal Company's power station at Galveston, the Corsicana Gas & Electric Company's power sta- tion and many other such plants together with a great number of engineering reports. By 1909 he

had gathered about him other highly efficient build- ers. . To list his chief buildings would be to review the greater building operations of every chief center of Texas, from the older cities to the new-born oil centers. Among other structures at Dallas that are his, is the Dallas Country Club, the Sumpter Build- ing, Southern. Methodist University Administration Building, the City Hall, which is a lasting monu- ment of beauty and stability which compares well with the foremost municipal buildings of the largest cities, the Southland Life Building, the eight story addition to the Interurban Building, the Whiterock Reservoir, the Dallas Filtration Plant, the Texas "Farm and Ranch" Building, the Hulsey Theatre now in process of construction and which will rank with the leading theatre buildings of America, the three interurbans leading from Dallas to Sherman, from Dallas to Corsicana and from Dallas to Waco. At Houston the Rossonian Apartments, one of the most exclusive apartment houses in the South, the Sunset Hospital, the Bender Hotel, Levy Brothers Department Store-are some of his work in that city, as well as the Telephone Exchange to his credit. Then there is the American National Insurance Building at Galveston, Nueces Hotel at Corpus Christi, the Paso Del Norte Hotel at El Paso, Trinity University Dormitory at Waxahachie, the National Supply Company Warehouse at Ft. Worth, the Na- tional Supply Building and the Republic Supply Building at Ranger, the Atlas Supply Company building at Eastland, the County Hospital, the Moul- ton Hotel and the American Trust & Savings Bank Building which is a twenty-story structure, all at Birmingham, Ala. Then there is the valuation re- port on the Roosevelt Dam, Salt River Valley project which brought into usefulness $10,000,000 of land. The Dallas-Wichita Valley Interurban Survey and Reports are his work. Camp McArthur cantonments, Rich Field an aviation camp at Waco. Also a large hospital for the government at Waco. During the late war Mr. Jones was chairman of Military Training Camps Association, and conducted examinations of civilians for officer's training camps and also repre- sented the Secretary of War in visiting training camps and aviation fields in Texas and conferring with officers on various matters.

Chief among his work now under construction are the Hulsey Theatre at Dallas and the Telephone Ex- change at Austin, he keeps in employ an average of men ranging from three hundred to five hundred.

On September 5, 1910, Miss Gussie Holland, daugh- ter of Hon. Frank P. Holland, formerly mayor of Dallas, owner of "Farm and Ranch" and "Holland's Magazine," became the bride of Mr. Jones. They have two children, Fred A., Jr., and Holland, and the family has residence at 3902 Mockingbird Lane, Dallas, opposite the Country Club.

Mr. Jones has also identified himself with the so-

cial and civic life as well as with the affairs com- mercial in every city in which he has resided. He is a Shriner at Hella Temple, a member of the City Club, the Idlewild Club, the Dallas Country Club, the Houston Club and the Old Colony Club. His nanie is found on the rolls of the American Society of Civil Engineers and is one of the oldest members of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers.

Though quiet and unassuming, yet Mr. Jones' fruit- fulness as the premier builder of the South marks him out as one of America's big men.

R H. HUNT, of R. H. Hunt & Co., 1211 South- western Life building, Dallas, Texas and 1225 James building, Chattanooga, Tenn., is at the head of one of the largest architec- tural firms of the South. Their operations reach practically every southern state. Mr. R. H. Hunt, who is the senior member of the firm, has main- tained offices at Chattanooga, Tenn., for more than twenty-five years during which time he has designed most of the large buildings of the city, including the twelve-story James Building, fifteen story Hamilton National Bank building, four hundred thousand dol- lar court house, two hundred thousand municipal building, Y. M. C. A. building, Carnegie Library and about fifteen churches. In addition to the above Mr. Hunt was recently commissioned to design a large High School plant for Chattanooga which is estimated to cost a million and a half dollars and which is to be one of the most complete high school plants in this country. The first section of this plant, costing half a million dollars is now under construction. He has also been engaged by the Auditorium Commission to design the new Memor- ial Auditorium which will cost six hundred thousand doliars.

Mr. Hunt gradually extended his practice to every southern state east of the Mississippi River, having for a number of years specialized in churches, schools and public buildings. In recent years the practice has extended across the Mississippi River, which made necessary a western office and in 1919, after canvassing the field for a location, Mr. Hunt came to Dallas and opened an office in the South- western Life Building, from which all business west of the Mississippi River is handled. This western office has designed and supervised a number of im- portant building enterprises including the six hun- dred thousand dollar improvements for Baylor Col- lege, Belton, Texas, three hundred thousand dollar improvement for Ouachita College, Arkadelphia, Ark., eighty thousand dollar fine arts and auditorium building for Howard Payne College, Brownwood, Texas, and hundred thousand dollar high school and eighty thousand dollar Presbyterian Church at Brownwood, Texas. A one hundred thousand dollar Methodist Church at Ranger, Texas, also a hundred thousand dollar Methodist Church at Ft. Smith. Ark., two hundred thousand dollar Baptist Church at Muskogee, Okla., together with other important churches at Houston, Beaumont, Marlin, Cisco and Belton.

In addition to the number of churches now being designed and constructed, this firm is the official architect for a number of colleges east and west of the Mississippi River and consulting architect for a large men's dormitory being erected for Baylor University at Waco, Texas.

A native of Georgia, Mr. Hunt was born in Elbert County on February 2nd, 1862. His father, R. S.

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ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS

Hunt, farmer and merchant, lived in various states and finally settled in Tennessee. His mother, who was Miss Mollie E. MeCrary, was a native of Georgia, though her family had originally come from Virginia. Mr. Hunt received his education in the public schools of Georgia and Tennessee and after he began work, continued studying, taking special course in architecture and finally entering the archi- tectural practice in 1887 in Chattanooga, Tennessee.

Associated with Mr. Hunt in the Chattanooga office are Mr. B. F. Hunt and Edwin G. Phillips, chief draftsman and associated with him in Dallas office are Mrs. C. B. Carter, secretary and treasurer and W. I. Love, chief draftsman.

A. OVERBECK, architect, 205-6 Deere Build- ing has won a reputation as an architect of original ideas and exceptional ability. Mr. Overbeck inherited his constructive gifts from his father, who was also a contractor and mill and lumber dealer. That Mr. Overbeck puts more than mere ability into his work is demonstrated strongly by his achievements in constructing the Dallas County Criminal Court and Jail building, which building he erected in 1913. This building which Mr. Overbeck points to as his most noteworthy accomplishment is the most humane and best equipped jail in the country. It is a $600,000 fire . proof building, eight stories high; the two first floors being used by various departments of the Criminal Courts, the upper six floors for prisoners, whites and blacks being segregated. Mr. Overbeck travelled to thirteen states, inspecting all such buildings minutely before beginning the erection of the structure. The jail is equipped with shower baths, ice water supply and fumigating facilities on the first floor. Fans at the bottom and top of the building control washed air ventilation. The sanitary arrangements are of the very best, and the whole thing constructed for the purpose of treating prisoners like human beings.

It had been Mr. Overbeck's idea to have a modern sanitary kitchen on the roof that would supply food to the prisoners by dumb waiters. All prisoners were to eat in the exercise corridors from metal, collapsible shelves. Hospital wards, for black and white, emergency operating rooms, physicians and chapels were a part of the plan. The dungeon was to be eliminated and an electric lighted cell used for unruly prisoners. A laundry adjoining the kitchen on the roof and operated by trusty prisoners, and a separate apartment for first offense girls, under supervision of matrons, and away from the prison- ers, formed other distinctive and humane features. It was Mr. Overbeck's ambition to have a pipe or- gan that would furnish popular music for recreation and, upon retiring, sacred music that would appeal to the better natures. However, the declaration of war stopped his campaign for funds, and the com- pletion of plans had to be postponed.

Other buildings that Mr. Overbeck has erected in Dallas are, the M. K. & T. building, Linz Office Building, (fire proof ), Dallas University building, St. Paul Sanitarium, a $350.000 structure, Crane Company Warehouse, Blair-Hughes Grocery Com- pany Buildings, Simmons-Newsome Company Build- ings, John Deere Plow Company, Parlin and Orren- dorff Buildings, Texas Moline Plow Company, John Hughes Brothers Manufacturing Company, several fire stations, Pierce Oil Corporation Building of Dal- las and the Shool buildings. He built the residences

of M. C. Levi, T. C. Manning; I. G. Bromberg and Chas. L. Cribbs; the City Park School Building, a five story reinforced concrete warehouse for Hughes Brothers Manufacturing Company, an apartment building for T. H. Rush at Gaston and Haskell Ave- nues, a private residence for Parter Farrell in Munger Place, and a $60,000 home for James Harri- son at Waxahachie, and two business buildings at that place, and at several other Texas towns.

Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on July 19th, 1861, Mr. Overbeck was the son of J. H. Overbeck, contractor builder and lumberman, and Dena Enneking Over- beck. He attended the public schools of Cincinnati. following this by a college course at Dayton, Ohio, and special work in architecture at a mechanical in- stitution in Cincinnati.' Mr. Overbeck states that most of his practical architectural knowledge was gotten from his father, for whom he worked many years. Opportunites of the growing west appealed to him, and he went out to Omaha and opened an office of his own. He was there eight years, and made a great success of his work. His last contract before leaving was for the erection of the State Fair Building at Omaha.

In 1895 he came to Dallas and established his pres- ent business.

Mr. Overbeck was married to Mrs. May B. Petti- grew. Their daughters are Mrs. T. C. Morrison of Dallas, and Mrs. J. B. Hale of Fort Worth. The Overbeck home is at 4810 Reiger Avenue.

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The encyclopedia of Texas, V.1, Part 72

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