Waples-Platter Grocery Company

Duane's take

Here's how the official marker tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. The story of the Waples-Platter Grocery Company starts even before the city it called home. The company was established in 1872, and Denison itself hadn't quite gotten around to existing yet.

Go back one more year, to 1871, and you find its earliest form, a firm called Hanna, Owens and Co., out there supplying provisions to the workers laying track for the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad. That is a humble origin for what would become one serious grocery empire. The company moved to Main Street, where a commercial district was quickly taking shape, and by 1873 they had set up in the 100 block of East Main Street and claimed the title of first wholesale grocery company in the city.

First. In a city that was brand new. They weren't waiting around.

Now, 1885 is where things get interesting. A man named E.B. Waples bought interest in the company and was named its president.

And that same year, they made a statement. Architect P. Lelardoux constructed a large warehouse and headquarters at 104 East Main Street.

Two stories tall, cast iron pilasters across the façade, terra cotta lion's head statues, keystones, segmented arch openings. That building was meant to symbolize the company's prominence in Denison, and for 128 years, it did exactly that. It survived until it was demolished in 2013.

Two years before this very marker was placed. In 1887, the company was renamed Waples-Platter and Company, and their line of grocery products took on a name of its own, the White Swan Line. Growth kept coming.

The first branch house opened at Gainesville in 1890. Fort Worth followed in 1893. Then 1913 brought something the marker calls the greatest accomplishment of Waples-Platter.

The Waples-Platter Canning Plant, known as Ranch Style, Inc., opened that year, and out of it came Ranch Style Beans, the company's most famous and lasting product. The kind of thing that outlives the building, outlives the headquarters, outlives the company name itself. The Denison operation held on even as the center of gravity shifted elsewhere.

The original headquarters building was sold to Griffin Wholesale Grocer Company in 1941, and Waples-Platter moved over to the annex building at 110 to 112 South Houston. They stayed there until 1959. A company that began feeding railroad workers before Denison was even a city ended up woven into the fabric of that city for the better part of a century.

And the beans, well, the beans are still on the shelf.

What the marker says

The Waples-Platter Grocery Company was established in 1872, before the City of Denison. Founded as Hanna, Owens & Co. In 1871, the company supplied Missouri-Kansas-Texas (mkt) railroad workers with provisions. The company moved to Main Street where a commercial district was quickly established. They set up a building in the 100 block of East Main Street in 1873 and became the first wholesale grocery company in the city. In 1885, E.B. Waples bought interest in the company and was named president of the firm. The same year, a large warehouse and headquarters was constructed by architect P. Lelardoux at 104 E. Main Street. It was a two-story building with cast iron pilasters in the façade, terra cotta lions head statues, keystones and segmented arch openings. The elegant building was meant to symbolize the company’s prominence in Denison and survived for 128 years until it was demolished in 2013. In 1887, the company was renamed Waples-Platter & Company and their line of grocery products became known as the White Swan Line. The first branch house at Gainesville opened in 1890 and the Fort Worth branch opened in 1893. The Waples-Platter Canning Plant, known as Ranch Style, Inc., opened in 1913. Known as the greatest accomplishment of Waples-Platter, Ranch Style Beans was the company’s most famous and lasting product. Once the headquarters of the company moved, the Denison operation remained until 1959. The original headquarters building in Denison was sold to Griffin Wholesale Grocer Company in 1941 when Waples-Platter moved to the annex building at 110-112 S. Houston until 1959.