DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about the Smith Brothers of Houston County. Now settle in, because this one starts modest and ends up stretching across the whole map of America. Francis Albert Smith came into the world in 1875, his brother James Henry — folks called him Jim — not long after.
Houston County born, both of them, which matters to this story. In 1904, these two men shook hands on something official and called it Smith Brothers. A business partnership, plain and simple.
Or so it seemed. They started where you'd expect for that era — a livery stable, family farms, real estate. Solid ground, all of it.
But then the automobile rolled into the picture, and the Smith Brothers did not miss that particular train. They started selling cars. And selling cars got them thinking about roads.
And thinking about roads got them doing something that nobody else in the area had done yet. In 1923, using their own funds — not a government grant, not outside investors — their own money — the Smith Brothers paved a six-point-nine-mile section of Old State Highway 21, west of Crockett. First paved highway in the area.
Just like that, the ground itself remembered their names. They kept going. Brick paving on the courthouse square right there in the city.
But Houston County, it turned out, was just the rehearsal. The company grew. Projects landed in California, Kansas, Florida, Illinois, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Tennessee, and New Mexico.
Other Smith Brothers companies took root in Dallas and San Antonio — contracting, cement operations, real estate development, investments in hotels in San Antonio, Corpus Christi, and Crockett. They owned ranches in Houston and Concho Counties. Two brothers from one county, and somehow they had filled in most of a continent.
Then 1930 came. Jim Smith died. And when Jim went, something shifted that couldn't be shored up.
Many of the company's assets were liquidated in the years that followed. The partnership — that handshake from 1904 — was finally dissolved in 1937. Francis Albert Smith had been born in 1875.
He lived until 1949, long enough to watch everything they'd built together wind down and go quiet. What the Smith Brothers left behind, though, you can still feel under your tires on that stretch of Old Highway 21 west of Crockett — the first paved highway in the area, laid down with their own money, in 1923. That's a long way to drive on a handshake.
What the marker says
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.