Smith Brothers
Crockett, Houston County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Houston County natives Francis Albert (1875-1949) and James Henry (Jim) Smith formed a business partnership in 1904 called Smith Brothers. Among their early business enterprises were a livery stable, family farms, and real estate. Following the advent of the automobile industry, they also sold cars and became interested in road construction. Using their own funds, the Smith Brothers constructed a 6.9 mile section of Old State Highway 21 west of Crockett in 1923. It was the first paved highway in the area. The company also paved roads in the city, including brick paving on the courthouse square. The brothers' business grew to include projects in California, Kansas, Florida, Illinois, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Tennessee, and New Mexico. Other Smith Brothers companies, formed in Dallas and San Antonio, included contracting and cement operations, as well as real estate development and investments in hotels in San Antonio, Corpus Christi, and Crockett. They also owned ranches in Houston and Concho Counties. Following Jim Smith's death in 1930, many of the company's assets were liquidated. The partnership was finally dissolved in 1937.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
When Francis Albert and Jim Smith joined forces in Houston County in 1904, they began with livery stables, farms, and real estate, but the automobile changed everything. Betting on the coming age of the car, they moved into road building and in 1923 paved a nearly seven-mile stretch of Old State Highway 21 with their own money, the first paved highway in the area. Their firm grew to lay roads and brick paving across Texas and nine other states before Jim's death in 1930 unwound the partnership.
Why it matters
The Smith Brothers embody the entrepreneurial energy that literally paved America's transition from horse-and-buggy to the automobile age in the early 20th century.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · Francis Albert Smith
- · James Henry (Jim) Smith
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Augustus "Gus" LeGory
Crockett, TX
Gus LeGory came to Texas from Mississippi in 1855 and, after serving in the Civil War, returned to work with a Trinity River steamboat company before building his own overland and river freight business. In 1870 he opened a Crockett saloon and went on to promote the town through banking, coal production, and agriculture. He married Eliza Wortham in 1875 and raised six children, living to age ninety.
Town of Latexo
Latexo, TX
This East Texas town began as Oldham, was renamed Starks' Switch when the International & Great Northern Railroad laid a sidetrack in 1872 to serve a nearby sawmill, and became Latexo when a Louisiana land company platted 3,000 acres of fruit land and a townsite in 1907. After logging stripped the timber, settlers turned to fruit and cotton, and around 1915 Latexo became the first Houston County school to teach agriculture. The town incorporated in 1979 and added civic buildings through the 1980s.
City of Grapeland
Grapeland, TX
Settled around 1850 and founded in 1872 by investors in the International & Great Northern Railway, Grapeland took its name from the wild grapevines that tangled the East Texas woods. A log schoolhouse doubled as its first church, and after an early business district burned in 1913 it was rebuilt in brick, with incorporation following in 1924. Oil and gas came in 1936, adding to an economy already grounded in peanuts, cotton, ranching, and truck crops.
Kennard
Kennard, TX
Kennard was founded in 1903 by the Louisiana and Texas Lumber Company on 160 platted acres, with land agent Alexander McTavish doubling as its first postmaster. As the terminus of the Eastern Texas Railroad hauling timber toward Angelina County, the town quickly drew businesses and residents from older settlements nearby, gaining banks, stores, and lodges. Timber and farming carried it through the 1920s and 1930s, and after State Highway 7 shifted its center to Main Street, Kennard incorporated in 1969 and endures in the heart of the Davy Crockett National Forest.