DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about this corner of Austin history. Now settle in, because this is the story of a family, a store, a bank, and a building that outlasted nearly everything around it — right up until the moment it didn't. John Bremond was a New York native, born in 1813, and by as early as 1847 he had put down roots in Austin with a dry goods store on this very site.
The man had an eye for layout — one department facing Pecan Street, which folks would later call Sixth Street, and the grocery department turning its face toward Brazos. Two storefronts, one building, and a family that was just gettin' started. Bremond wasn't the kind of man to sit still.
He served on the group pushing for the construction of the Houston and Texas Central Railway — a railroad that, as it happened, was associated with his own brother Paul. He'd been a firefighter before all this, and that civic spirit didn't leave him just because he got into commerce. He was instrumental in establishing Austin's very first hook and ladder company.
And when his sons Eugene and John, Jr., came of age and showed that same streak, they joined him in the business in 1865, and John Bremond and Company was born. The next year, their father died. 1866. The sons carried on.
Now here's where it gets interesting — maybe even a little quiet-genius interesting. In a back room of that store, Eugene Bremond set up a private loan operation. Not exactly a headline, at first glance.
But that back-room operation would grow into the State National Bank. Bremond's Bank, people called it. Eugene sold his share of the family business in 1870, but he kept right on running the bank, which received its charter in 1882.
Meanwhile, John, Jr., brought in his brother-in-law, John H. Robinson, Jr., as a partner. The Robinson family — proprietors of the J.H.
Robinson and Son General Merchandise Store over on Congress Avenue — were already deeply tangled up with the Bremonds. Three marriages among the children of these two families. Three.
That's not a business relationship anymore, that's a dynasty. When the railroad finally came to Austin in 1871, the store shifted toward wholesale operations. And then in 1905, the company did something that was genuinely ahead of its time — it became one of the early businesses in Texas to roast, grind, and distribute its own coffee, eventually shipping that coffee across the whole state.
From a back-room loan office to a bank, from dry goods to wholesale, from local grocer to coffee shipper reaching every corner of Texas — this family kept reinventing what they were. The business moved a few blocks away in 1924, and it finally closed its doors in 1967. That two-story limestone building stood on this site until 1979, when it was demolished.
And here's the thing that'll stay with you — at the time they tore it down, that building was reportedly the oldest commercial structure in all of Austin. One hundred and thirty-some-odd years of commerce, of family, of coffee and dry goods and banking, and it ended not with fanfare but with a demolition crew. Some stories don't get a grand finale.
They just get a marker.
What the marker says
New York native John Bremond (1813-1866) built a dry goods store at this site as early as 1847. Soon, his dry goods department faced Pecan (Sixth) Street, and the grocery department faced Brazos Street. Active civically, he served as a member of the group that encouraged the eventual construction of the Houston & Texas Central Railway, which was associated with Bremond's brother Paul. John Bremond, a former firefighter, was instrumental in establishing Austin's first hook and ladder company. His sons Eugene and John, Jr., who were also active in the city's firefighting, joined him as business partners in 1865, forming John Bremond & Company. After their father's death the next year, the sons continued the business. In a back room of the store, Eugene operated a private loan operation that would become the State National Bank, or "Bremond's Bank." He sold his share of the family business in 1870 but continued operating the bank, which received its charter in 1882. John, Jr. Then made his brother-in-law, John H. Robinson, Jr., a partner. The John Henry Robinson family, proprietors of the J.H. Robinson & Son General Merchandise Store on Congress Avenue, was closely linked to the Bremonds, with three marriages among the children. The Bremonds' store continued, shifting to wholesale operations after the railroad came to Austin in 1871. In 1905, it became one of the early companies to roast, grind and distribute its own coffee, eventually shipping its products across the state. The business moved a few blocks away in 1924 and finally closed its doors in 1967. At the time it was demolished in 1979, the two-story limestone building was reportedly the oldest commercial structure in Austin. (2003)