DUANE
Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Four men. Two sets of brothers bound by blood and by marriage.
And one cotton firm that started in Oklahoma City in 1904 and ended up reshaping Houston, the global cotton trade, and a whole lot more. Frank E. Anderson and his brother Monroe D.
Anderson partnered up with Frank's wife's brothers — William L. and Benjamin B. Clayton — to form Anderson, Clayton & Co. Four men, one handshake of a partnership, and cotton on the brain.
Now, in those days, if you were serious about cotton, you looked east. The New York Cotton Exchange was the center of the world's cotton-trading universe, and Houston was very much a lesser player. But Anderson, Clayton & Co. had plans.
Big ones. By 1916, the firm had moved its headquarters to Houston and was already building something remarkable out on the new Houston Ship Channel. They called it Long Reach — a cotton compressing, storing, and shipping complex that stretched across thirty-two acres, including a wharf that could load eight steamships simultaneously.
Eight. At the same time. Let that picture settle in your mind for a moment.
And Houston started to matter in the cotton world. In 1924, the Houston Cotton Exchange moved into a brand new building right at this very site. Anderson, Clayton & Co. became the building's principal tenant for many years, running their operation from the eleventh floor.
From up there, company officials were supervising more than twenty-four thousand employees stationed around the world. From the eleventh floor of a building in Houston, Texas. The company incorporated in 1945, and they didn't stop moving.
By 1960, coffee had actually surpassed cotton in sales. Coffee. They kept diversifying — interests in related foods and textiles — and by the 1980s the food division had become the firm's principal asset.
The Quaker Oats Company acquired the business in 1986. Cotton to coffee to oats. That's one long road from Oklahoma City.
But here's the part of the story that tends to outlast the business ledgers. Monroe Anderson — M.D. Anderson — his foundation established the Texas Medical Center and the University of Texas M.D.
Anderson Cancer Center, along with many other projects. If you've ever known someone whose life was touched by that cancer center, you now know one strand of the thread that leads back to this building. Ben Clayton created the Clayton Research Foundation and other philanthropies.
And Will Clayton — he didn't just run a cotton empire. He became Undersecretary of State for Economic Affairs, and he played a significant role in the Marshall Plan after World War II. Will Clayton and his wife also gave their home to Houston's Public Library.
Four men from one partnership. And what they left behind is still standing — in medicine, in foreign policy, in public libraries, and in this very building. In 1996, the former Cotton Exchange Building became the Anderson Clayton Courthouse Annex.
Started as a cotton firm in Oklahoma City in 1904. Ended up woven into the fabric of a city — and the world — in ways those four partners probably never sat down and planned. That's the kind of story you don't make up.
You just have to follow the thread.
What the marker says
In 1904, Frank E. Anderson, his brother, Monroe D. Anderson, and his wife's brothers, William L. and Benjamin B. Clayton, formed the partnership of Anderson, Clayton & Co. in Oklahoma City. The successful cotton firm moved its headquarters in 1916 to Houston and built Long Reach, a cotton compressing-storing-shipping complex covering 32 acres on the new Houston Ship Channel, including a wharf for the simultaneous loading of eight steamships. At the time, the world's cotton-trading center was the New York Cotton Exchange; Houston and other cities had lesser exchanges. In 1924, the Houston Cotton Exchange moved into a new building at this site. Anderson, Clayton & Co. became the building's principal tenant for many years. From the eleventh floor headquarters, company officials supervised more than 24,000 employees stationed around the world. The company incorporated in 1945. By 1960, coffee had surpassed cotton in sales, and the firm continued to diversify, with interests in related foods and textiles. By the 1980s, the food division had become its principal asset, and the Quaker Oats Company acquired the business in 1986. The firm's Houston partners greatly influenced the city's development and enriched its future. The M.D. Anderson Foundation established the Texas Medical Center, the University of Texas-M.D. Anderson Cancer Center and many other projects. Ben Clayton created the Clayton Research Foundation and other philanthropies. Will Clayton became prominent as Undersecretary of State for Economic Affairs and for his work on the Marshall Plan after World War II. He and his wife gave their home to Houston's Public Library. In 1996, the former Cotton Exchange Building became the Anderson Clayton Courthouse Annex. (2005)