Farmers Union Gin Company

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm happy to pass it along. Now, five names you ought to know: Henry Kellerman, J. H.

Barbee, A. H. Fleming, I.

B. Rylander, and J. H.

Williams. Local farmers, every one of them. In 1908, these five men pooled their intentions and purchased a site right here in San Marcos.

What they had in mind was something the area had never quite seen before. Through their efforts, the Farmers Union Gin Company took shape, established under the leadership of a man named Oscar Calvin Smith. And what they built became the first industrial plant of its size in San Marcos.

Let that settle in for a second. The first of its kind. In a town where cotton was the conversation, this gin became vital to the whole industry of the region.

Now, the story has a turn in it, as good stories usually do. There was an earlier structure on this site, and that structure burned. So in 1911, they put up the brick gin house you can still see standing today.

Brick, because some lessons only need to be learned once. That gin ran, and ran, and kept on runnin' through decades of Texas summers and cotton harvests, all the way until 1966. Then it went quiet.

But the building didn't disappear. Mr. and Mrs. W.

H. Crook and Mr. and Mrs. Randall Morris saw to that, restoring it in 1981.

Five farmers started something in 1908 that a brick wall and a few determined people refused to let the years take away.

What the marker says

Local farmers Henry Kellerman, J. H. Barbee, A. H. Fleming, I. B. Rylander, and J. H. Williams purchased this site in 1908. Through their efforts the Farmers Union Gin Company was established here under the leadership of Oscar Calvin Smith. The first industrial plant of its size in San Marcos, the gin became vital to the area's cotton industry and remained in operation until 1966. This brick gin house, built in 1911, replaced an earlier structure which burned. Recorded Texas Historic Landmark - 1981 Incise in base: Restored by Mr. and Mrs. W. H. Crook and Mr. and Mrs. Randall Morris - 1981