The encyclopedia of Texas, V.2, Part 15

Author: Davis, Ellis Arthur, ed; Grobe, Edwin H., ed
Publication date: 1922
Publisher: Dallas, Texas Development Bureau
Number of Pages: 1328

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After finishing his education, Mr. Keith first held the position of assistant bookkeeper in the Gaston National Bank, and on the consolidation of this bank with the Guaranty Bank & Trust Co., became as- sistant cashier, which position he still held when the Commonwealth National Bank and Guaranty Bank & Trust Co. were merged, continuing in this capacity when the bank became known as the Security Na- tional Bank. He resigned in 1917 to organize the Keith Motor Co. and in June, 1919, the company was reorganized under the present firm name with Mr. Keith still president.

Born in Johnson County, Texas, in 1888, the son cf R. P., wholesale grover and Ola Poole Keith, both Texans, Mr. Keith was educated in the public schools of Dallas where the family removed in 1895 as the elder Keith was at that time connected with the Blair Hughes Company of Dallas. In 1909 he mar- ried Miss Addie May Glasscock, of Cleburne, Texas. Mr. Keith is a 32d degree Mason, belonging to Hella Temple, a member of the City Club, charter member of the Dallas Athletic Club and also holds mem- bership in the Kiwanis Club. In 1916 he was made treasurer and general manager of the Juliette Fowler Home for the Aged and Orphans. In May, 1920, he was elected president of the Dallas Storage & Warehouse Co., and holds the vice-presidency of the Ft. Worth Warehouse & Storage Co.

RED E. McLARTY, president of the Mc- Larty Motor Company, 2021 Commerce Street, Dallas, who has been in the auto- mobile business at that address since 1917. was trained for a good many years to be a banker but in the pursuit of his fortune was led to forsake money for motors and, it appears, has prospered withal. Associated with him in this business are W. T. Herrick (Waco) vice-president; W. E. Brown. vice-president, of Dallas, and Dave F. Anderson, secretary and treasurer. They have, at the above address two- three story buildings, 100 by 90 feet, and have 33 employees. They are authorized dis- tributors for the Nash Motor Cars and Trucks and have the northern half of Texas for their territory. Their volume of (wholesale) business reached $1,- 500,000 in 1920.

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ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS

Mr. MeLarty was born in Hardin County, Ten- nessce in 1879, but during the same year his parents, David N. and Cynthia (South) MeLarty, removed to Texas and located in Cameron, Milam County. The young MeLaity was educated, however, in the schools of Robinson County. His first business ex- perience was gained as a clerk in the Sturgis Na- tional Bank of Hillsboro where he worked for three years. Later he went to Whitney and worked for a time in the Citizens National Bank at that place. Ir. 1907 he moved to Waco and was then made cashier of the Exchange National Bank in that city. He held this position until 1910, when he was made cashier of the Central Texas Exchange Bank, Waco. He held this position until 1917 when he came to Dallas to start in his present business.

In 1904 he was married in Whitney, Texas, to Miss Bessie Smith, of Whitney. They have one child, a daughter, Miss Elizabeth, and they reside at 3908 Euclid Avenue, Highland Park, Dallas.

Mr. McLarty has found Dallas to be an altogether pleasant place to live in and he is particularly well pleased with the advantages of that city for the automobile business. He is a member of the Dallas Chamber of Commerce, the Dallas Auto Trades As- sociation and the City Club. He has always been interested in Masonic work and is a Shriner with membership at Karem Temple, Waco. He is a member of the Methodist Church.

UBB DIGGS, president of the Hubb Diggs Company, local dealers in Fort Worth for Ford cars, is one of the potent factors in the automobile business in his city, and the business that he has built up since August, 1916, when it was established, speaks volumes for his remarkable business judgment and capable execu- tive management. Beginning with 8,000 square feet of floor space the company now occupies three buildings with a total of 30,000 square feet of floor space, has 115 employes, including four traveling salesmen, and does a business ranging from one and a half to two million dollars a year. The first year the business operated it did a business of over half a million dollars. T. N. Collier, Fort Worth, is vice-president and secretary-treasurer of the com- pany.

Prior to establishing this business Mr. Diggs was a salesman for the Ford Motor Company, and stood sixth in the amount of business secured in the United States by the sales force of the company. He began his business career in the mercantile business in Wichita Falls, working for a salary, and later went on the road for a dry goods house. After rounding out his tenth year on the road as a dry goods salesman, he came to Fort Worth in 1910 and went into business under the firm of Diggs Brothers, which was later changed to Jamie- son-Diggs Company. Later he withdrew from this firm and went with the Ford Motor Company as salesman, remaining with the company until he took over the present business.

Mr. Diggs is a native of Leonard, Fannin County, Texas, born in 1882, and educated in the public schools of that town. His tather, P. H. Diggs, de- ceased, was a native of North Carolina and during his lifetime was a cotton farmer. He was married in Leonard. Texas, in 1910, to Miss Lillie Atteberry, daughter of D. Atterberry, & well known banker of Leonard. He is a Mason and a Knight of

Templar, is president of the Auto Dealers Associa- tion and the Auto Owners' Association. His home is on Burleson Road, near Fort Worth.

M. REARDON, JR., proprietor of the Auto- mobile agency which bears his name, sup- plies the entire northern half of Texas with Automobiles and motor trucks of a super- ior type, operating from his establishment at 1716 North Akard Street.

For years the name Reardon has suggested phe- nomenal success in the automobile business to resi- dents of North Texas. Mr. Reardon is distributor of Mercer and Locomobile cars and of Simplex and Riker trucks throughout his wide territory. For six years prior to the year 1919, he gained wide . recognition for his success in the sale of Pierce-Ar- row automobiles, selling his interest in that concern to assunie control of his present agency.

The son of E. M. Reardon, Sr., and Mary Beatty Reardon, E. M. Reardon, Jr., was born at Duke Cen- ter, Pa., April 18, 1882. The family came to Dallas early in the life of the younger Reardon, and he became possessed of the educational advantages offered by the Dallas public schools. He attended the University of the South at Sewanee, Tenn., and the A. & M. College of Texas.

On March 18, 1918, Mr. Reardon became con- nected with the National Guard of Texas, an emerg- ency organization of two brigades of cavalry or- ganized in Texas and offered to the federal govern- ment for overseas service in the war with Germany.

He attended the Central Cavalry Officer's Train- ing school at Camp Stanley, Leon Springs, Texas, and was commissioned Captain May 18, 1918, and was advanced to Major in the National Guard November 22, 1918. January 17, 1919, he was ap- pointed Lieutenant Colonel on the Governor's Staff. Due to the fact that the Armistice brought the War to a close in November 1918, the unit was prevented from seeing overseas service, but it later became one of the strongest National Guard Organizations the state has ever known.

Mr. Reardon was married in the year 1901 to Miss Elizabeth Hardie of Dallas. Occupying with them their residence in Highland Park, 3925 Beverly Drive, are their two children, Elizabeth and Edwin, and their home is the center of much social activity.

Few men are more active in the civic and social realm of the city than Mr. Reardon. Besides being a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity, he is prominent in the affairs of the Dallas Country Club, the City Club, and the Dallas Auto Dealers Association,

ARTHUR J. LANGFORD, manager of the Dal- las branch of the Ford Motor Company, at the corner of Williams and Henry Streets, Dallas, heads the greatest assembling and sales organization in the automobile industry of the Southwest. His territory for the "Universal Car" ex- tends over the northern half of the state of Texas and the southeastern part of the state of Oklahoma. In this area he has jurisdiction over 200 dealers and. in Dallas at the assembling and shipping plant at Dallas there are over two hundred on the payroll. This plant, when operated at full capacity, can turn out 150 ears a day. The sales from this distribut- ing point have increased year by year until in 1920 the total volume reached 26,000 cars which shows a good increase over the next best year, 1919, when there was a volume of 20,000.

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Tubo Digg0

MEN OF TEXAS

Mr. Langford was born in Conyers, Georgia, April 21, 1878, where his parents, James Judson and Alpha ( Almand) Langford were engaged in the mercantile business. Here the younger Langford received his tarlier education and college preparatory work and later attended the Georgia School of Technology in Atlanta.

In 1898 Mr. Langford went into the bicycle busi- ness in Conyers and continued in that line for two years. At the end of that time he became interested with his father in the mercantile business which was operated under the name of J. J. Langford and Sons and he remained in that firm until 1908 when his service with the Ford Motor Company began.

Ilis first position was in Atlanta where, in two year's time he was promoted to the position of assist- ant manager. In 1914 he was transferred to Char- lotte, North Carolina, as manager of that branch and in 1916 was sent to Dallas to take his present position.

In 1900 he was married to Miss Clara Swords, an old school acquaintance, at Conyers, Georgia, where her father was engaged in business. They now re- side at 5417 Swiss Avenue, Dallas, and have two children, Mildred, at Sullins College, Bristol, Va., and Judson, at New Mexico Military Institution, Rosewell, N. M.

Mr. Langford, due to his genial personality as well as his extensive business and social connections throughout Texas, has a wide acquaintance and keeps in intimate touch with commercial conditions in every part of his territory. He is a firm believer in the theory that Dallas is the logical distributing point for all of the Southwest territory and is destined soon to become a city of the metropolis class.

He has been active as a Mason and is a Shriner with membership at Hella Temple and he is also a member of the Knights of Pythias and the B. P. O. E., the City Club, the Lakewood Country Club, the Dallas Automobile Club and the Dallas Athletic Club.

OHN S. LAMBERTH, proprietor of the Lamberth Motor Company, 3800-16 Main Street, Dallas, is a Ford dealer and is reputed in 1920 to have been accredited with the largest volume of business of all author- ized agencies under the supervision of the Ford Company in Texas. His volume for 1920 reached $1,000,000, which is the result of a business that has gradually increased from year to year since . prides itself on the class of work it turns out. Mr. Lamberth made a very modest beginning as salesman for the Texas organization in 1916. His plant now occupies an up-to-date structure 225 by 140 feet, and shelters the following departments: Sales, service, parts, upholstering, painting, general repair, accessories and office. The work of these departments is carried on by a force of 80 men.

Mr. Lamberth was born September 30, 1877, in Elmore County, Alabama. and his parents were James P. and Nora (Mattews) Lamberth. His father at that time was postmaster, planter, and miller in a small community. The family later re- moved to Birmingham, Alabama, where the younger Lamberth received his education. After his father's death, he and his mother removed to Waxahachie, Texas, in 1893, and here he gained his first business experience working in various local stores. After working for mercantile establishments in Temple, Cleburne and Hillsboro, he finally came to Dallas in

1905 and worked as a retail clothing salesman until 1916 when his employment with the Ford company began. Here he started as a salesman, but in four months' time was given an agency and from the business derived in this manner, developed and or- ganized his present company in which he is asso- ciated with S. J. McFarland and Dan D. Rogers. He is also secretary-treasurer of the American Body Company, which was organized for the manufacture of bodies for all makes of trucks.

He was married in 1902 in Waxahachie to Miss Patie Rodman, a native of Abilene but living at the time in Waxahachie. They now have three children, Hugh, Ruth and Jimmie and reside at 3503 Crescent Avenue, Highland Park, Dallas.

Mr. Lamberth feels a strong attachment for Dallas and aside from his business has taken an active in- terest in the work of various organizations that are promoting good work for his city and fellow citizens. Among the organizations in which he holds membership are: Dallas Chamber of Com- merce, Dallas Auto Club, Dallas Auto Trades Asso- ciation, the Salesmanship Club, the Dallas Automo- bile Country Club, the Lakewood Country Club, and the B. P. O. E.

LEE WILSON, president of the Rose-Wilson Co., South Ervay Street, authorized Ford dealers, probably knows more about Fords than any dealer in the country for he knows them from tire to top. On leaving the University of Texas seven years ago he went with the Ford or- ganization and he has stayed with it ever since. It is the only business that he has ever engaged in. As a result of this intimacy with the car his house is one of the most popular to be found. Its volume of business will run close to a million dollars this year and probably more each succeeding year. T. A. Rose is affiliated with Mr. Wilson as secretary-treasurer of the company, the two men having been associated for some time before the partnership was formed.

The present company was organized as the King Motor Co. in 1916 but the name was changed in 1920. It handles Ford cars, trucks, parts and ac- cessories in its building which contains 14,000 square feet of floor space. This has proven inadequate, however, and the company has purchased a site and is erecting a two-story building which will give it 60,000 square feet. More than forty employees are used in the different departments and a great deal of repair work is handled through this concern which

Mr. Wilson was born in Pittsburg, Texas, July 11, 1890, son of B. D. and Florie Wilson, old Texas settlers. He was educated in the public schools and later attended Virginia Military Institute and the University of Texas. He left the university in 1912 and in 1913 went to work as a salesman with the Ford Motor Co. Later he worked in all branches of the business making a close study of every depart- ment and its work so that he would be qualified along all lines with regards to the Ford car. He advanced to superintendent of the Dallas branch and was later appointed to the New York shop. Mr. Rose was the assistant manager of the Dallas branch during Mr. Wilson's connection with it. In 1917 Mr. Wilson was made the authorized dealer at Waco where he did a wonderful business for eighteen months. However the call to Dallas was strong within him and he answered the call to return here.

He married Miss Erma Reinhardt at Dallas in

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ENCYCLOPEDIA OF TEXAS

1913. They make their home at 302 North Ewing Street, Oak Cliff.

Mr. Wilson is a member of Hella Temple Shrine and Knight Templar, Scottish and York Rite Mason. While at the university he became a member of the Sigma Phi Epsilon University. He is a mem- ber of the Chamber of Commerce and Manufacturers Association, Automobile Dealers Association, the Dallas Automobile Country Club. His family affiliates with the Presbyterian Church.

S. LANGFORD, Wichita Falls, is one of the largest Ford dealers in the State of Texas, and Texas does an immense business in Fords daily. The Motor Supply Company which Mr. Langford owns was established in 1911 with a beginning of a floor space of 50x150 feet; Mr. Langford now has two buildings, one with a floor space of 100x150 feet, other 50x100 feet, two floors, forty employees are active in the Wichita establishment alone, for there are plants also in Burkburnett and Electra. The Burkburnett house is 75x100 feet, two floors, with thirty employees, and the one at Electra is 75x159 feet also with thirty employees. Fords and Fordson Tractors are dealt in and the monthly business average about $170,000.00. Among other interests, Mr. Langford is president of the Southern Tire and Vulcanizing Company, who are distributors of the Firestone tires, doing about $200,000 per year. Mr. Langford has an inter- est in three other Ford contracts, owns one-sixth in- terest in the K. M. A. Refinery, has leases in Till- man County, Oklahoma and leases in Archer, Clay, Haskell and Wichita counties, Texas. He has a string of Standard Tools, is a member of the Silk- Bullington-Langford & Smith organization and is an extensive holder of bank-stock. He is a man of big business in many directions.

Mr. Langford was born in South Carolina, at the town of Newberry, in 1877. His father, George A. Langford was a big planter and merchant in that state; his mother was Mary Elizabeth (Livingston) Langford. The public schools of his native state, the Military Academy of Charlston, S. C., and New- berry College gave Mr. Langford his education. At the age of twenty-one, he entered the United States Army as a captain in the infantry, for the Spanish- American War, which he served through. Upon go- ing back to civil life, he chose to avail himself of business opportunities in Texas, located at Wichita Falls, where he is among the leading men who bring things to pass. Besides the interests already named as being Mr. Langford's, he has interest in the Big 4 Oil Company, Royalties in Burk Townsite and in- terests in other firms.

On October 27, 1915, Miss Mary Jewell Kemp be- came the bride of Mr. Langford. She is the daughter of J. A. Kemp, one of the leading Bankers and busi- ness men of Wichita Falls. They have one child, David Kemp Langford, age four; the family resi- dence is at 2812 Tenth Street.

Mr. Langford is a Mason of both the Scottish and York Rites, he is a Shriner of the Maskat Temple. Besides being industrious in business, he is active in the civic and social welfare of his city where his influence is a leading factor.

S COTT BOWER, manager of the Wichita Falls branch of the Munger Auto Company, a Dallas corporation, of which Roy Munger is president, J. R. Bower, vice-president, and E. T. Jones, secretary and treasurer, all of the Dallas main office, is one of the leading young men con-

nected with the automobile industry in Wichita Falls, and the company with which he is connected is on .. of the largest in the State, being distributors for practically the entire State of Texas for the Cadillac automobiles. The Wichita Falls branch is located! at 816-18 Scott avenue, and occupies a floor space of 50 x 150 feet, in which are located the offices, sales room, parts and service departments, the whole or- cupying two floors.

Mr. Bower was in the railroad business for five years before engaging in the automobile business, having started his business life in the general offices of the Texas and Pacific Railroad. In 1912 he began work for the Adolphus Auto Rent Co., and after a year with that concern, engaged in business for him- self. His next connection was with the Dallas Auto Painting Co., and later with the Munger Auto Com- pany, in the service and sales department. In 1915 he went back to the Dallas Auto Painting Company and a short while afterwards returned to the Munger Company as manager of their San Antonio branch. In 1918 this branch was discontinued and he came to Wichita Falls as manager of the branch here. He is a brother of Mr. J. R. Bower, vice-president of the Munger Auto Company, and since coming to Wichita Falls has acquired an interest in oil in Wichita county.

Mr. Bower was born in Dallas, Texas, in 1884, and received his education in the publie schools of that city. He was married in 1907 to Miss Annie Belle Newsum, a native of Kentucky, and they have four interesting children, Scott Jr., Edwin, Mary Katherine and Ruth. He is identified with the Elks, the Wichita Club and the Wichita Falls Golf Club. He is greatly interested in Wichita Falls and believes it is destined to become one of the most important eities of the State.

L. DIXON, owner and manager of the Dixon Motor Company, distributors for the Buick automobiles in Wichita, Archer and Clay Counties, is prominently identified with the commercial life of Wichita Falls, has a large busi- ness, approximating one million dollars a year, and is universally regarded as a man of the highest integrity by his business associates and friends. He came to Wichita Falls in 1914, and in 1917 estab- lished the Dixon Motor Company, the business oc- cupying three floors, 50x150, ineluding show rooms, offices, parts department and service station. Twen- ty-eight employes are required in the offices and service station, and two traveling salesmen are kept on the road, covering the territory controlled by the company.

Mr. Dixon is a practical business man and me- chanic, has been connected with the automobile in- dustry for several years and understands the char- acter of service required by autoists. His first ex- perience was gained at Fort Worth, Texas, where he was engaged as a mechanic. From Fort Worth he went to Denison, and in 1914 he established a Studebaker service station in Wichita Falls, which he operated successfully until 1917, when he secured the distributing agency for the Buick cars and estab- lished his present business, which has been marked by splendid success.

Born in Ennis, Texas, in 1887, and educated in the public schools of Fort Worth, with a business course in a commercial college there to more prop- erly fit him for commercial pursuits, Mr. Dixon has met and conquered all the obstacles that usually

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W.S. Langford.

ני לסדקים

بجياء

الشوط ولم .يوسف: ماء.

MEN OF TEXAS

face the young man just getting started out in life. His parents, H. C. and Mary (Reid) Dixon, are both natives of Texas, his father, a rancher and farmer belonging to that sturdy type of men who have made Texas history.

Mr. Dixon was married in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1908, to Miss Metta Jackson, deceased. They have four fine boys, Otho, Harold, Francis and J. L., and are established in a comfortable home at 1657 Huff Avenue. He is an Elk, a K. of P. and is affiliated with the Wichita Club, the Rod and Gun Club and a member of the Business Council of the Chamber of Commerce. He has great confidence in the future growth and development of his city, and expects to see it become one of the most important com- mercial and industrial centers in the state.

J. MOULDER, associated with the Wilhelm- Moulder Auto Company, Lamar Street, distributors of Chandler and Cleve- land cars in Wichita, Archer, Clay and Wilbarger counties, is prominently identified with the business life of Wichita Falls, and his firm is one of the largest of its kind operating in that city, occupying one of the best buildings and main- taining a splendid service and parts department, of- fices and salesrooms. The company also handles Goodyear tires and tubes and Miller and Goodrich tiles and tubes. Backed by one of the largest auto- mobile organizations in the country, putting out two cars that are nationally known and popular. the company, which was established January, 1920, has made a remarkable success and is generally considered one of the growing and substantial busi- ness firms of the city.

Prior to coming to Wichita Falls, Mr. Moulder was with the International Harvester Company for fifteen years, working in all departments and cover- ing most of the United States in the interest of the company. When he left the company to come to Texas with his brother, J. D. Moulder, in 1920, he held the position of assistant branch manager at Grand Forks, North Dakota.

Mr. Moulder is a native of Minneapolis, born on May 23, 1886, and educated in the public schools of North Dakota and at U. S. Military Academy, at West Point, New York. His long connection with the International Harvester Company brought him into contact with business men and farmers in prac- tically all parts of the United States, giving him a very general knowledge of men and business. He is a man of strong personality, interested in his busi- ness, his fellow men and in the future of Wichita Falls, and is one of the factors helping to make it a greater and more important city. Mr. Moulder is a member of the Chamber of Comnierce, University and Kiwanis Clubs and the Knights of Columbus.

Mr. Moulder was married in 1915 to Miss E A. Shillington. Mr. and Mrs. Moulder have one child. John S. The family resides at 1816 Seventh Street.

D. MOULDER, associated with his brother, „G. J. Moulder, in the ownership and man- agement of the Wilhelm-Moulder Auto Company, 808 Lamar Street, distributors for Chandler and Cleveland cars in the counties of Wichita, Archer, Clay and Wilbarger, is one of the live wire husiness mien of Wichita Falls, active in all movements tending to promote the best inter- ests of the city, and deservedly popular. He is well known throughout Western Texas, having traveled out of Dallas about four years for the International

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The encyclopedia of Texas, V.2, Part 15

Author: Davis, Ellis Arthur, ed; Grobe, Edwin H., ed Publication date: 1922 Publisher: Dallas, Texas Development Bureau Number of Pages: 1328

Author: Davis, Ellis Arthur, ed; Grobe, Edwin H., ed
Publication date: 1922
Publisher: Dallas, Texas Development Bureau
Number of Pages: 1328