USA > Texas > The encyclopedia of Texas, V.1 > Part 88
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ESTER T. BURNS, real estate dealer, First National Bank Building, is a native of Illinois, and came to Wichita Falls from that state in 1913. He has been in the real estate business about two years. He deals in city, farm and ranch properties and has some oil investments. During 1920 Mr. Burns built twenty- five residences in Wichita Falls and is also interested in close-in business property some of which is im- proved buildings.
Mr. Burns served in the army during the war, with the 36th Division, 142nd Infantry, 71st Brigade. He was in France with the 142nd Infantry ten months and saw service on the Champagne front, Meuse and Argonne sectors. He was in the de- fensive sector and was awarded a Victory medal for distinguished service in the Meuse and Argonne drives. He enlisted as a private and was promoted to a first lieutenancy before being discharged. Prior to enlisting in the army he was with the City Na- tional Bank at Wichita Falls about three years.
He was born at Medora, Ill., February 6, 1894. His parents, Thomas and Ethel Carter Burns, still reside at Medora and it was here that Mr. Burns received his education in the public schools.
He was married to Miss Lillian May McGregor, daughter of W. M. McGregor, president of the First National Bank of Wichita Falls, in 1916, and the family home is located at 1309 Tenth Street.
Mr. Burns is a member of the Elks Lodge and the Wichita Golf Club, Wichita Club and the Chan- ber of Commerce.
A. KAUFHOLD, Morgan Building, Wichita Falls, real estate and oil operator, is among the most progressive of those of his busi- ness in what is everywhere conceded to be one of the best territories for both real estate deal- ings and for oil operation in the United States. While Texas has had an oil output to her credit for some years, it was not until the more recent de- velopment and re-discovery of the oil fields of west- ern and northwestern districts that she began to be rated among the foremost of Uncle Sam's oil states. Mr. Kaufhold, located at Wichita Falls, is in one of the richest of these oil fields where also, because of oil developments and the great increase in commerce of every kind, the real estate values and exchange or marketing of such is one of the greatest assets and businesses of a vast territory. Real estate of every type is handled by him as well as oil leases in proven territories and semi-proven fields. His leases cover the various oil centers of Northwest Texas.
Mr. Kaufhold was born at Millheim, Texas, in 1890. His father, H. W. Kaufhold, now of Bellville, Texas, was also born at Millheim and his mother, Dora (Bolton) Millheim is also a native Texan. After completing the schools of Austin County, Mr. Kaufhold took a business course and then entered the employ of the M. K. & T. R. R. Co. at Denison, Texas; later, in 1910, he came to Wichita Falls with the same company and remained with it until he resigned the position of cashier in the employ of the M. K. & T. R. R. to enter the world war, in December of 1917, as a private in air service. He was commissioned a second lieutenant. Upon his discharge in 1919 he went back to Wichita Falls but entered the oil business and real estate.
Mr. Kaufhold is a "bachelor" and resides at 1614 Eleventh Street. He is a member of the Elks of his city. Youthful and talented, he is successful al- ready to an attractive degree.
DUGGER YOUNG, popular young Wichita Falls business man and well known in the transfer and storage linc, operated at this time what is known as No. 1 and No. 2 storage houses. From 1919 until a recent date, Mr. Young, in partnership with J. N. Nichols con- ducted a general transfer and storage business.
Mr. Young was born in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1888, and did not come to Texas to reside until 1919, while his former partner Mr. Nichols was born at Gainsville, Texas in 1888. His father is W. H. Nichols, who moved to New York while his son was small so that his son, after completing his schooling. began his business carcer in New York as a banker for two years, then took up the position of traveling salesman through the South and Southwest which tours resulted in his choosing Wichita Falls as his permanent home in the business in which he joined Mr. Young.
Mr. Young was schooled in Alabama, in the South- ern University, at Greensboro, Ala., and then began the retail grocery business at Greensboro as an em- ployee. Later, he went on the road for a wholesale concern, canvassing all the Southwestern States, a work he did for twelve years.
In 1911, at Beeville, Texas, Miss Mary Black be- came the bride of Mr. Young. These two men, con- geniel as salesmen for years, but different in their native states and environment. are today among the aggressive men of Wichita Falls.
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B F. JOHNSON, representative for Wichita and Wilbarger counties in the state legis- lature, real estate and oil operator, a part- ner of W. S. Curlee in the firm of Curlee & Johnson, with offiees in the Bob Waggoner Building, Wichita Falls, Texas, is one of the most progressive youths in a eity of big men. His service has al- ready been through the western counties and at other times state-wide in the direction of some of the big- gest war measures of war days, and he is alert, keen and at the very front among men who are doing things in the big West today.
Mr. Johnson is a native Texan; he was born at Hempstead, in Waller County, on July 2, 1886. His parents are Frank Johnson and Aliee Griffin John- son, both native Texans whose parents served in the Confederate army during the Civil War. Mr. John- son graduated from Baylor University in 1908 and from that date has been a leader wherever he has gone. Immediately upon completing his university course, he began business as a newspaper man and in this capacity was with the Galveston News for one year. In 1909 he bought the Pecos Times and directed it for two years. In 1910 he founded the Texas Realty Guide, the first real estate newspaper in Texas. In 1911 he became secretary of the Mc- Kinney Chamber of Commerce, then of the Kings- ville Chamber of Commerce for 1912, next with Col. Henry Exall on the Texas Industrial Congress until Col. Exall's death. In 1913 he became secretary for the Gainesville Chamber of Commerce in which ca- pacity he served for three years; in 1916, he be- came secretary for the Wiehita Falls Chamber of Commeree which position he retained until 1919, when the company of which he is a partner now was organized. The firm of Curlee & Johnson deals in rentals, both business and residences as well as farm lands and they make a specialty of the irrigated lands, oil leases and oil production. They are brok- ers for both leases and production property. They have organized and then sold the Woodrow-Lee Com- pany, the 39 Oil Company, and the Nolan County Development Company and others. Mr. Johnson is vice-president and general manager of the Wichita Housing Corporation, a home building company with a capital of $50,000, and secretary-treasurer of the Sanders-Haid Auto Supply Company.
In 1920 Mr. Johnson was elected as representa- tive to the state legislature for Wiehita and Wil- barger counties. To read Mr. Johnson's war record is like reading the government's home activities dur- ing the war period. He was Federal Food Admin- istrator for Distriet No. 11, consisting of thirteen counties; he was secretary for the state of Texas for the United War Work Campaign; he was also state manager for the War Camp Community Serv- ice, and managed the Food and Fuel Production campaign for Governor Hobby and the State Couneil of Defense. He did more traveling and war work than any other man in his county. He has three noteworthy aeeomplishments for his eounty-he se- cured the Aviation Training School, the Northwest Texas Insane Asylum, and managed the campaign for good roads that resulted in the vote for $2,- 000,000 in bonds for building good roads in Wichita County. Mr. Johnson is president of the Advisory Board of the Salvation Army for his eounty. Many other positions of note which indicate but the keenest and most efficient leaders could attain are to Mr. Johnson's credit, as. while secretary of the
Wichita Chamber of Commerce, he was elected pres- ident of the Southern Commercial Secretaries Asso- . ciation.
In 1908, at Houston, Texas, Miss Stella Ellis, a native of San Jacinto County, Texas, became the bride of Mr. Johnson. They have four children: Lamar, B. Frank, Jr., Wm. D. and Preston Ellis. The family resides at 1413 Hayes Avenue. Mr. Johnson is a member of the Knights of Pythias, the Elks, the Wiehita Club, the Rotary Club, the Ad Club, the University Club and the Baptist Church. He was formerly chairman of the business couneil of the Chamber of Commerce and served as director of the Wichita Club and Rotary Club.
As a publie spirited citizen, Mr. Johnson is un- surpassed. No man in his part of the state has a record so interwoven with every civic, social and business interest of his eity and oft-times state. No city in Texas has a greater claim on the future than has Wichita Falls. There are three separate situations any one of which would insure its future. These are its importance as an agricultural terri- tory, a distributing center, and an oil field. Oil and real estate, therefore, are the two elements that underlie the entire big present and greater future of this coming metropolis, and Mr. Johnson is right at the heart of these two industries and, indeed, helps shape the destinies of both.
ILBERT A. RAY, proprietor and manager Ray's Sheet Metal Works, corner Oak and Virginia Streets, established his business in Wichita Falls in 1912, starting out under the firm name of Ray & Sloan and later buying out Sloan's interest. He started out as a coppersmith and has worked at the trade in various parts of Texas and Oklahoma. He was never in business for himself until he established this company, and at the present time he is part owner of the Smartwood- Ray Tank Company of Vernon, Texas. He also owns a thoroughbred stock farm six miles southeast of Wichita Falls, which is managed by his father.
Mr. Ray has built up a big organization in Wichita Falls, employing between fifty and sixty men who are kept busy turning out all kinds of tanks for the oil fields and a general line of building work, heating and ventilating systems. He does a wholesale busi- ness from San Antonio to Oklahoma City, dealing with hardware dealers and supply stores. The heat- ing and ventilating work on the new theatre now being constructed in Wichita Falls is being done by his concern, which is the largest sheet metal works in the state of Texas.
He comes from Koseuisko, Miss., where he was born Mareh 7, 1885. His father was a rancher and his education was acquired in the public schools of Decatur, Texas.
Mr. Ray was married at Wichita Falls, February 22, 1918, to Miss Blanche Hobson, and they have two children, Opal and Nahoma. The family home is at 1705 Eleventh Street. He is an Elk and a member of the Chamber of Commerce, to which organization he gives his services to help promote the commercial and industrial welfare of his city, in which he has an abiding faith.
He is a young man, progressive and efficient in business, and might well be classed among that type of men who make two blades of grass grow where only one grew before. He believes in Wichita Falls and is a live booster.
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MEN OF TEXAS
HOMAS H. FRIEDLEY, partner in the firm of Halton & Friedley, jewelers, Indiana at Eighth street, Wichita Falls, has one of the most attractive jewelry establishments in the Southwest, excepting no firm of any city. It is not only one of the most attractive, but one of the costliest and most valuable stocks in the Southwest; a private diamond display room, a handsome cut glass display room, special cases for the display of silver are some of the unique features, while in addi- tion there is a watch and jewelry repair department and the fixtures throughout the establishment are said to be the finest in the South. Mr. Friedley vis- ited all large Eastern cities to gather ideas for build- ing one of the most complete jewelry stores in the United States and he succeeded in getting those ideas and in Wichita Falls he has built just such an estab- lishment. G. W. Halton, of the Halton Jewelry Com- pany, of Ft. Worth, is a partner in the business. Twelve employees are retained in continual service.
Mr. Friedley was born at Alton, Pennsylvania, in 1878. His father, John H. Friedley, was first a Penn- sylvania merchant, but came to Texas in 1880, owned the cotton gin at Kaufman, and now is in the mer- cantile business and cotton factory at Albany, Texas; his mother, a native of Alton, Pa., is Mrs. Belle (Cree) Friedley. The public schools and a business college at San Antonio, Texas, provided Mr. Friedley with his education. He began his business career by serving as an inspector in the railroad business for four years. He then took up the mercantile business for himself, but gave this up to go into the jewelry business with Mr. Halton at Bowie, Texas, in 1895. It was this business that was moved to Wichita Falls in 1914 and from that date Mr. Friedley has been one of the foremost business men of that city.
In 1900, at Weatherford, Texas, Miss Ruby Good- win, a native Texan, became the bride of Mr. Fried- ley; they have two children, Howard and Gertrude. The family has residence at 804 Taylor street.
Mr. Friedley is a Royal Arch Mason at Wichita Falls, helped organize the Rotary Club, and was for- merly a member of the Business Council of the Chamber of Commerce. He has thoroughly identified himself with the social and civic life of his city as well as with its commercial interests. He has brought to it a big business, one of the most attractive and useful establishment in the South of its kind and the exclusive patronage given it marks the appreciation of Wichita Falls.
HILIP KLEINMAN, partner in organization of "The Globe," a gent's furnishing store, Eighth and Ohio Avenues, Wichita Falls, di- rects one of the most attractive businesses of its kind in the Northwest district. Everything in shoes or wear that men need or desire is found in its best quality at the Globe establishment since Feb- ruary 22, 1911, when it was first opened by Mr. Kleinman and his partner, Louis Kleinman, retired, of Dallas. . Four employees are kept busy handling the increasing trade which has doubled in volume during the last few years over an already handsome record of years' standing. Wichita Falls is noted a's a city of big men, men of vision and it is to the clothing needs of such the Globe caters.
Russia was the birth-land of Philip Kleinman in 1884. His father, M. Kleinman, came to the United States in 1886 and located in Dallas in 1901. The father, deceased since November 21, 1919, was a Rabbi, distinguished far and wide for his rabbinical
learning and devotion. In his calling he perpetuated one of the most cultural and spiritual services known to men, for which his race is noted, and Rabbi M. Kleinman was a splendid representative of his high calling. The fact that his father was a Rabbi, has meant larger educational advantages to Young Klein- man. His business career had its beginning in the printer's trade which he pursued for two years and then he came to Dallas to enter the mercantile busi- ness with his brother. In 1909, he was given a ten per cent interest in the Kleinman establishment. In 1911, he was sent to Wichita Falls to manage the newly opened business known as "The Globe," with a twenty per cent interest which was soon doubled and then in 1919 he was received as a full partner. In his ten years of residence at Wichita Falls, Mr. Kleinnian has acquired valuable real estate holdings in that city.
On June 30, 1913, Romance prevailed and Miss Rae Dan, a native of Tennessee who had resided in Ft. Worth, Texas, since childhood, became the bride of Mr. Kleinman.
The Wichita Falls Lodge No. 635, F. & A. M. Chapter No. 202, and the Elk Lodge No. 1105, all have Mr. Kleinman in their active membership. He has won not only a permanent place in the commer- cial life of his city, but is active in the civic and social life, as well. The quality and service of goods handled by Mr. Kleinman has made sure the place of "The Globe" as one of leadership in the commercial life both of today and tomorrow of his city.
ARON B. WOLFSON, owner and manager of the Wolfson Cigar Company, 715 Wall Street, established his business here March 1, 1919, catering to the wholesale trade only and covering a territory embracing the entire section around Wichita Falls and part of Oklahoma. All brands of Eastern made cigars are handled and a large and highly satisfactory business is being built up.
Mr. Wolfson has had an experience of over twenty years in the jobbing business and knows it from the ground up. He started as a bottle washer for L. Epstein & Son, wholesale liquor dealers at Fort Worth, and was connected with them for nineteen years. Four and a half years after he went into their service he was made general manager of the business and held the position for fifteen years and until the country went dry. After quitting the liquor business he worked two years for the Casey- Swasey Cigar Company of Fort Worth, Texas, and then came to Wichita Falls.
He is a native of San Augustine, Texas, born February 25, 1880, and attended the public schools at Denison. His parents were Wm. and Helen (Newman) Wolfson, and his father was engaged in business in San Augustine. June 26, 1904, Mr. Wolfson was married at Greenville, Texas, to Miss Anna Newrenburg of that city, and they have two children, William and Sophia. The family resides at 1801 Huff Avenue. Mr. Wolfson is a 32d degree Scottish Rite Mason and Shriner, member of the K. of P., the B. P. O. E., the Rotary Club and the Chamber of Commerce. He is numbered among the real live wires of Wichita Falls and can always be found in the front ranks with those active in de- veloping the commercial, industrial, social and civic growth of his city. He is young, progressive and ambitious and is building up a business that is a credit to himself and his city.
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ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS
M J (MATT) GARDNER. Among the cattle raising men of North and West Texas, but few if any are better or more favorably known than M. J. (Matt) Gardner, 2013 Elizabeth Street, Wichita Falls, principal owner of the Gardner Ranch, but now retired front active con- nection with its management. Mr. Gardner has been successful and his success is not measured wholly in terms of dollars and cents or the amount of material wealth he has accumulated. He has devoted a life time to the cattle industry and is leaving to his son the task of carrying on the work he started and which under his guiding genius was developed to a high state of perfection.
The Gardner ranch, lying about five miles out from Wichita Falls on the Valley Road, is one of the most beautiful and highly developed spots in all that sec- tion. The ranch comprises about 3,500 acres of which eight hundred are in cultivation and other re- served as grazing lands for the five hundred or more Hereford cattle with which the ranch is stocked. Modern equipment and a splendid ranch home give further proof of the enterprise and progressiveness of the man who founded and developed this magnifi- cent enterprise.
Mr. Gardner was born in Henry County, Iowa, in 1856 and educated in the public schools of Iowa. He came to Wichita County in 1897, and has been an ac- tive and prominent figure in this section since that time. Besides his extensive ranch interests Mr. Gardner is president of the Adams Electrified Dis- tilled Water Company and for the past ten years has been vice president of the Wichita State Bank and Trust Company. He has always taken an active interest in all civic matters and was a member of the City Council of Wichita Falls for eight years.
In 1875 Mr. Gardner was married to Miss Allie Harlan of Henry County, Iowa. They have six children, Mrs. N. M. Jenne, of Colorado, W. W., ac- tive vice president of the Wichita State Bank and Trust Company, Mrs. J. S. Walker, of Wichita Falls, Max, who is active manager of the Gardner ranch, and Rhea, an unmarried daughter. A son, E. J., died in 1915.
Mr. Gardner is a Mason, a member of Lodge No. 635. He was Master of this Lodge in 1913 and in 1919, was given a life membership in the Elks. He also is a member of the Modern Woodmen and the Texas Cattle Raisers' Association.
B ERT J. BEAN, owner of the Bert Bean Coffee Company, Ohio at Sixth, Wichita Falls, has made his city a leader in another industry in addition to its already im- niense activities for the Bean Coffee Company is the largest retail and wholesale coffee house in the West. The business was started in 1889 under the name of O. W. Bean & Son, on Ohio Avenue, in a small grocery store. Later the business opened on Indiana Avenue as the Bert Bean Coffee Company, on a wholesale and retail scale. On November 1, 1919, the company moved to its new home built for this business, it has six employees. The capacity of the plant is for 8,000 pounds of coffee a day and there is space for machinery that will double this output; there are two floors, each 40x100 feet. A salesman is on the road at all times dealing with every grocery store or coffee house within a radius of a hundred miles; and they get their coffee from the Bert Bean Coffee Company at Wichita Falls.
Jackson, Michigan, in 1868, was the birthplace of
Mr. Bean. His father, O. W. Bean, came to Wichita Falls in 1884 and established the business that has grown to the immense proportions of today; the mother was Jennie (Butler) Bean, a native of Canada. The public schools of Michigan gave Mr. Bean his education prior to his coming to Texas which witnessed the beginning of his business career. He was in the coffee business with his father for fifteen years which was until the latter's death; he took up the business and has enlarged it to its present proportions. Mr. Bean is a stockholder in many organizations of Wichita Falls. The Bean residence is at 1505 Tenth Street.
Mr. Bean is an active member of the Rotary Club and Elks of his city. He is among the most sanguine of believers in the future of. Wichita Falls as a com- ing center in the southwest. As attractive as is the city today, as progressive as it is, its development is but beginning compared with what the future of the city will be. Every Texas city conceded that Wichita Falls' claim on the tomorrow is unsurpassed by any Texas center. The Bert Bean Coffee Com- pany will share in this big development.
A. ROBERTS, of Lowry and Roberts, Real Estate and Insurance, Farmers State Bank Bldg., Burkburnett, is a leader in one of the greatest activities of northwestern and western Texas-the interchange of land, business and resident properties. The real estate of any section is always right at the heart of the commercial valuation of that section; and rising values which are the outcome of steady and permanent situations, rapid increase in population of a district, increase in material wealth-are factors ideal in the realty busi- ness. These factors the district about Burkburnett and the City itself combine in a degree unsurpassed by any other section of Texas, and in the enormous business transactions in that rapidly developing sec- tion, Mr. Roberts has an attractive part.
Mr. Roberts is a native of Missouri; he was born in the southern part of that state in 1888. His father, J. L. Roberts, is a farmer now retired and resides at Norman, Oklahoma. The public school system of his native state gave him their best through his days of childhood and young manhood, and after a youth unmarked by anything out of the ordinary, Mr. Roberts first began farming in the Indian Territory. Later he yielded to the call of the Lone Star State and located in Wichita County. In 1911, he left off farming to enter the world of commerce and business and began by affiliating himself with the oil industry. In the oil territory he has served in all lines of work and in October, 1920, when he left that service, he was engaged in Contract Drilling. He owns attractive leases in some of the best fields today but since October, 1920, is devoting his personal energies to the real estate industry in which his section of the state is a lead- er.
In 1910, in Wichita County, Mr. Roberts and Miss Nora Owens, a native Texan, were united in mar- riage; they have three children-Chester, age six, Shelby, age four and a half years, and Donald, age three. The family resides at 402 East Fifth St.
Mr. Roberts is an active Mason at Burkburnett and is congenial with his fellow-men. He is active not only in the commercial life but the civic welfare of his city as well and in its immense future will have an attractive part.
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MEN OF TEXAS
AX GARDNER, manager and one of the owners of the Gardner Ranch lying a few miles out from Wichita Falls, is one of the best known and successful of the younger ranch men of this section. He has the complete man- agement of the ranch which comprises thirty-five hundred acres, eight hundred of which is in cultiva- tion. The remainder of the ranch is made up of graz- ing land, which is highly fertile and on which now upward of five hundred head of high grade Hereford cattle are grazing.
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