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International
Harvester Dealers of the Past
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The
Red Pylon . . . Signpost of Progress
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Looney and Company ~
427 West Travis Street ~ La
Grange, Texas
Photos courtesy of J. T.
Koenig
1950 grand opening of Looney and
Company's prototype building, complete
with white demo C tractor.
1950 grand opening of Looney and
Company's prototype building. Man in the white
hat is reported to
be future president Lyndon Johnson, making the
rounds as U.S. Senator.
1950
grand opening of Looney and Company's
prototype building.
Looney and Company owner Pete Looney and wife
in bookkeeper's office at dealership with
unknown
La Grange ladies (they handed out carnations
to all ladies at the grand opening).
That Building With The Tall Red Chimney
Just Off The Square
By J. T. Koenig
Part I
For almost three-quarters of a century,
thousands of travelers have driven past the
mid-century building with the tall red brick
chimney on Business 71 just off the square in La
Grange, many likely not giving it a moment’s
notice. However, despite this lack of
attention and appreciation, the distinctive
building, located at 427 West Travis Street, is
in fact one of the few remaining extant examples
of a once prolific cutting-edge design which
existed across North America in hundreds of
small towns in the United States, Canada and
Mexico, as well as South America. La
Grange is not alone among the towns in the local
vicinity to have one of these buildings;
Hallettsville, Columbus, Brenham, Bryan and
Taylor also still have one of these structures,
although the example in La Grange is the least
changed from the original design.
The building was designed by architects employed
by the International Harvester Company (IHC),
currently known as Navistar International
Corporation, an agricultural and automotive
company founded in 1902 through the merger of
the McCormick Harvesting Company and the Deering
Harvester Company with financial backing from J.
P. Morgan. The company manufactured Farmall
tractors and International Harvester (IH)
trucks, as well as all manner of farming
implements.
As a result of manufacturing contracts IHC
procured to aid the war effort during World War
II, and due to pent up demand during the war
years, IHC was the dominant tractor and
implement manufacturer during the post war
years, even outpacing Ford, Deere, Chalmers and
Massey-Ferguson. To bolster this explosive
growth, IHC began an expansion plan in the late
1940s, building retail outlets all across North,
Central and South America. In an effort to
maintain a cohesive and well-defined brand, many
were built in variations of the same design, a
design called the “Prototype Plan”.
The main building, an example of which is still
well represented by the building in La Grange,
was called the “Base of Operations”. This
structure was devised to be adaptable to any
size dealer, and provided for growth or
contraction depending upon the specific
dealership’s requirements. In La Grange, this
new building design and expansion initiative
could not have come at a more opportune time for
the then local International Harvester dealer;
Darter & Looney Implement Company.
Darter & Looney was a partnership between
William Alexander (W. A.) Darter and his
son-in-law, Eugene Guy “Pete” Looney, husband to
Rowena Totten Darter, which was established
following Pete and Rowena’s marriage in 1939.
Looney was a World War II navy veteran; a
commissioned officer serving on a Tank Landing
Ship assisting the Marines in the Pacific
theater. During the War, Darter ran the
business. W. A. Darter also had run the
predecessor company, Darter Implement &
Supply Company, since his move to La Grange from
Giddings around 1937. Prior to coming to La
Grange, Darter, an electrical engineer, had set
up power plants in Brenham, Hempstead, and
Giddings. Darter & Looney had run its
business at the same location, just off the
square on Block 15 of the John Moore Farm
Blocks, since its beginnings, and in addition to
selling and servicing IH products, it also sold
and serviced Pontiac automobiles, as well as
operating a filling station associated with the
automobile and implement enterprise.
Behind the implement business, located in the
same building, was Adamcik’s Electric Motor
Service operated by Edwin Adamcik, which he had
opened in June of 1946 after his return from
service in World War II.
Not six months after Adamcik’s business had
opened, calamity struck in the form of a
devastating fire which struck on Wednesday,
December 18, 1946. This fire gutted the Darter
& Looney establishment as well as the
Adamcik business and the filling station located
next door to the business. The fire damage was
calculated at $30,000, about a quarter of which
was covered by insurance. Darter & Looney
salvaged some of the vehicles and farming
equipment, and set up shop nearby as a temporary
measure. Adamcik’s also moved next door into
open retail space. While this fire was
disastrous in the short term, it was thus
advantageous that, at that very time,
International Harvester was just embarking on
its post-war expansion plan.
Less than a year after the fire, in December of
1947, construction began in La Grange on the new
IH Prototype building with its distinctive tall
brick chimney, called a pylon, painted in
International Harvester red. At the same
time as the new “Base of Operations”, was being
constructed, a replacement service station was
also being built on the northeast corner of the
block where the former implement business
building had stood. This service station was a
state-of-the-art construction which was opened
as a Humble Oil filling station, selling Esso
gasoline and operated by Lawrence Behler.
Behler’s Service Station opened on April 15,
1948. This service station was later operated by
Robert Kallus.
Part II
The construction of the new IH Prototype
building was overseen by local architect and
contractor, Arthur Henry Pohl. Pohl also built
several other prominent local structures, among
them the First Presbyterian Church of La Grange,
located on Franklin Street. Anticipating
material shortages, Pohl estimated completion of
the structure in August of 1948. However, it is
believed the complex was in fact finished in
January of 1949, as Darter & Looney was
advertising the next year’s line of Farmall
tractors by February of 1949 at the 427 West
Travis Street location. Previously, they listed
their address as further down Travis Street at
the intersection of Travis and Jefferson. During
this interim period, Pete Looney was still very
involved in the community. In May of 1948,
Fayette County suffered a terrible hailstorm,
causing many farmers’ fledgling corn and cotton
crops to be ruined, including that of John and
Elva Koenig in O’Quinn. Hearing this,
Looney, who had just received a shipment of new
Farmall tractors, asked his men to “crank ‘em
up” and drive them over to the Koenig farm to
help get their crops replanted. The Koenigs made
their crops that year. Although IH was not happy
about putting brand new tractors into service,
Looney thought it was the right thing to do.
In November of 1949, W. A. Darter retired from
the business and turned over all its operations
to his son-in-law. Darter & Looney became
Looney & Company. As a means of
spurring his new venture, Looney held a grand
opening on Thursday, February 16, 1950 at the
new “Base of Operations” where he and the
broader IH company hosted in excess of 3,000
visitors with “unexcelled hospitality”. This
included speeches, refreshments, product
demonstrations, and door prizes, all culminating
in a dance in the service bay, accompanied by
the music of a Mexican mariachi band as well as
Ray Baca’s orchestra. Mr. Looney continued
selling and servicing IH products and Pontiac
automobiles until April of 1951, when he turned
over the businesses to Harry Vogt who owned Vogt
& Company, a former livery and stable
business started by his father, Frederick
“Fritz” Vogt. Vogt leased the premises
from Looney until 1953. In January of 1953, the
sales and service business was sold to Lester
and Mary Alice von Rosenberg and his sister and
brother-in-law, Berger Eugene (B.E.) and Lois
(von Rosenberg) Todd. Looney had transferred the
land underlying the businesses to the von
Rosenberg and Todd couples via a sale on July 8,
1952 just the year before. The new business was
called Rosenberg-Todd, Incorporated, and just
like Darter & Looney and Vogt & Company
before them, they too sold and serviced IH and
Pontiac products. Rosenberg-Todd continued to
serve the La Grange, Schulenburg and Giddings
markets for IH and Pontiac products through the
remainder of the 1950s, and in 1962, it added
Oldsmobile automobiles to its line-up, debuting
the 1962 Oldsmobile 98 Holiday Coupe and Sedan.
The businesses flourished in the 1950s and 1960s
through the sales efforts of Mr. Todd and his
staff, examples of which were Mr. Todd’s support
for the Fayette County Fair’s livestock shows,
when he purchased the 1956 Reserve Champion ewe
and the 1965 Grand Champion Hereford. The
dealership was named the regional Pontiac sales
winner in 1967. In addition to the sales side of
the business, service was an integral factor in
the dealership’s success, as was the service
station which continued to be operated under the
Humble Oil franchise until its closure in the
early 1970s.
Numerous family members were involved in the
Rosenberg-Todd business in addition to Mr. Todd,
who served as President and General Manager. Mr.
Todd's wife, Lois (von Rosenberg) Todd, acted as
bookkeeper. Mrs. Todd’s younger brother, Albert
Lee “A. L.” von Rosenberg, was bookkeeper before
her. Mrs. Lucille (Freytag) von Rosenberg was
Mr. Todd’s secretary for many years.
In 1966, Lester and Mary Alice von Rosenberg
decided to pursue a different path, so they sold
their interest in the business to Mr. and Mrs.
Todd. Shortly thereafter, Mrs. Todd passed away
unexpectedly, leaving Mr. Todd to lead the
business on his own. His eldest daughter, Terrye
Jean Todd, who had previously married Harvey
Bohot, took Mrs. Todd’s place in the business as
bookkeeper, and her husband Harvey became a part
owner and Assistant Manager. It was this
addition to the management and ownership team
that was the impetus in 1970 to change the name
of the business from the long-standing name,
Rosenberg-Todd, to the name Bohot-Todd, which
was well known in Fayette County, and beyond,
during the 1970s and 1980s.
After almost four decades in the car and tractor
sales and service business, B. E. Todd decided
it was time to retire. The Oldsmobile and
Pontiac dealership business was sold in the late
1980s to the Brasher family which was operating
the local Chevrolet dealership in La Grange and
a comparable dealership in Weimar at that time.
The International Harvester part of the business
had been previously sold around 1978 to Eugene
Niemeyer, who ran the IH business out of a new
purpose built metal structure behind the
Prototype building until it became
non-operating.
Following the sale of the business, the Todd
family retained the block 15 where the original
businesses and buildings were located, bound by
Travis, Water, Crockett and Brown Streets, and
they currently lease the historic 1948 IH
Prototype building through its Todd Ventures,
Ltd. commercial real estate business that Rebeca
Todd Koenig, a Todd family daughter, has managed
since 1999.
The IH Prototype building, like many structures
west of Water Street in La Grange, was severely
damaged in August 2017 from over eight feet of
flooding due to the rains of Hurricane Harvey
which caused the Colorado River at La Grange to
rise to in excess of 54 feet. Despite this
damage and setback, the Todd family, through the
hard work and assistance of Chris Janca and his
crew, repaired and restored the building to its
pre-flood state, and new businesses are now able
to use and enjoy the historic mid-century
edifice whose iconic red brick chimney signals
to everyone coming across the Colorado River
bridge into La Grange that they have arrived.
Sources:
The Fayette County Record (La Grange,
Tex.), Vol. 16, No. 84, Ed. 1 Friday, August 19,
1938
The Fayette County Record (La Grange,
Tex.), Vol. 24, No. 65, Ed. 1 Friday, June 14,
1946
The Fayette County Record (La Grange,
Tex.), Vol. 25, No. 16, Ed. 1 Tuesday, December
24, 1946
La Grange Journal (La Grange, Tex.), Vol.
67, No. 52, Ed. 1 Thursday, December 26, 1946
The Fayette County Record (La Grange,
Tex.), Vol. 26, No. 9, Ed. 1 Tuesday, December
2, 1947
International Harvester World Magazine,
March, 1948 – The Red Pylon, Symbol of Postwar
Progress
The Fayette County Record (La Grange,
Tex.), Vol. 26, No. 48, Ed. 1 Friday, April 16,
1948
The Fayette County Record (La Grange,
Tex.), Vol. 26, No. 60, Ed. 1 Friday, May 28,
1948
The La Grange Journal (La Grange, Tex.),
Vol. 70, No. 7, Ed. 1 Thursday, February 17,
1949
The Fayette County Record (La Grange,
Tex.), Vol. 28, No. 12, Ed. 1 Friday, December
9, 1949
The Fayette County Record (La Grange,
Tex.), Vol. 28, No. 31, Ed. 1 Tuesday, February
14, 1950
The Fayette County Record (La Grange,
Tex.), Vol. 29, No. 32, Ed. 1 Tuesday, February
20, 1951
The Fayette County Record (La Grange,
Tex.), Vol. 29, No. 46, Ed. 1 Tuesday, April 10,
1951
The Fayette County Record (La Grange,
Tex.), Vol. 29, No. 58, Ed. 1 Tuesday, May 22,
1951
The Fayette County Record (La Grange,
Tex.), Vol. 29, No. 62, Ed. 1 Tuesday, June 5,
1951
The La Grange Journal (La Grange, Tex.),
Vol. 73, No. 28, Ed. 1 Thursday, July 10, 1952
The Fayette County Record (La Grange,
Tex.), Vol. 30, No. 73, Ed. 1 Friday, July 11,
1952
The La Grange Journal (La Grange, Tex.),
Vol. 74, No. 2, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 8, 1953
The Fayette County Record (La Grange,
Tex.), Vol. 39, No. 66, Ed. 1 Tuesday, June 20,
1961
The La Grange Journal (La Grange, Tex.),
Vol. 83, No. 2, Ed. 1 Thursday, January 11, 1962
Ancestry.com, Darter and Looney Familiy
Trees
Ancestry.com, Vogt and Koehler Family
Trees
Ancestry.com, Jon Todd Koenig Family Tree
Email correspondence with John Guy Looney, MD,
son of Pete Looney, grandson of W. A. Darter
Interview with Rebeca Todd Koenig, daughter of
B. E. Todd
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Dealers of the Past
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