M. D. Anderson
Houston, Harris County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Tennessee native Monroe Dunaway (M. d.) Anderson (1873-1939) joined his brother Frank and William L. and Ben Clayton in an Oklahoma cotton merchandising business in 1904. Anderson served as chief financial officer for the business, known as Anderson, Clayton & Company. In 1907 he moved to Houston and opened a branch office for the company in Houston's original Cotton Exchange building at the corner of Travis and Franklin streets. Anderson, Clayton & Company moved its main offices to Houston in 1916 and in 1923 moved here to the Houston Cotton Exchange building. They prospered and became the leading merchants in the global cotton market. Anderson never married and lived frugally in downtown hotels. In 1936 he established a charitable foundation with the fortune he made in the cotton business. Upon his death in 1939, $20 million of his estate was willed to the M. D. Anderson Foundation. The Texas Legislature authorized the creation of a cancer research hospital in 1941. Upon learning this, trustees of the M. D. Anderson Foundation successfully bid for the institution and helped finance it. The M. D. Anderson Cancer Center and the Texas Medical Center which the M. D. Anderson Foundation created have become world renowned institutions.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Monroe Dunaway Anderson, a Tennessee native, joined his brother and the Clayton family in an Oklahoma cotton business in 1904 and served as its financial officer as Anderson, Clayton & Company grew into the leading merchant in the global cotton trade. He moved the firm's operations to Houston, lived frugally as a lifelong bachelor in downtown hotels, and in 1936 established a charitable foundation. When he died in 1939 he left it $20 million, and the foundation's trustees used that fortune to help win and finance a state cancer hospital — the origin of the M. D. Anderson Cancer Center and the Texas Medical Center.
Why it matters
Anderson's cotton fortune, given away through his foundation, seeded one of the world's foremost cancer centers and the great Texas Medical Center — a striking case of Gilded Age commerce transformed into modern medical philanthropy.
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Related people
- · Monroe Dunaway Anderson
- · William L. Clayton
Related events
- · Founding of the M. D. Anderson Foundation (1936)
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Anderson, Clayton & Co.
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Founded in Oklahoma City in 1904 by the Anderson brothers and their Clayton in-laws, this cotton firm moved to Houston in 1916 and built a sprawling shipping complex on the new Houston Ship Channel. From its perch in the Houston Cotton Exchange, the company grew into a global cotton trader with more than 24,000 employees before diversifying into foods and textiles and finally being absorbed by Quaker Oats in 1986. Its partners left an outsized mark: the M.D. Anderson Foundation seeded the Texas Medical Center, and Will Clayton helped shape the postwar Marshall Plan.
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