DUANE
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Duane's take
Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'm gonna give it to you straight. Back in August of 1890, two brothers-in-law by the names of William Hofmann and Ernest H. Bogusch shook hands, pooled their ambitions, and opened Hofmann and Company right there in Mason, Texas.
Now, Mason wasn't exactly sitting at a crossroads of the world, but the folks in that town and the communities stretching out around it needed a central place to get their supplies and do their trading, and that's exactly what Hofmann and Company set out to be. By 1903, the name on the sign had changed to Hofmann Dry Goods Company, which had a certain ring to it, the kind of name that said: we mean business, and we've got what you need. And they did.
General merchandise, sure, but somewhere along the way the store grew into something more, becoming a commodities brokerage firm right alongside all that dry goods commerce. And here's the part that really sticks with you. The store didn't just sell things.
It became a gathering place, a downtown fixture where Mason's economic life and its social life had a way of meeting in the same aisle. People came for the goods and stayed for the company, you might say. Now, more than a hundred years of Mason history have rolled through that building, and through all of it, the Hofmann Dry Goods Company has remained in the Hofmann family.
Some things in Texas, if you take care of them, have a way of holding on.
What the marker says
Founded by brothers-in-law William Hofmann and Ernest H. Bogusch, Hofmann and Ernest H. Bogusch, Hofmann and Company opened for business in August 1890, providing the citizens of Mason and the surrounding communities with a central supply and trading source. The name of the store changed to Hofman Dry Goods Company in 1903. In addition to selling general merchandise, it became a commodities brokerage firm and a popular downtown gathering place. An important part of Mason's economic and social history, the store has remained in the Hofmann family. (1991)