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International
Harvester Dealers of the Past
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The
Red Pylon . . . Signpost of Progress
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Rosenberg-Todd, Inc. ~
427 West Travis Street ~ La
Grange, Texas
Photos courtesy of J. T.
Koenig
Rosenberg-Todd, Inc.
By J. T. Koenig
The Oldsmobile, Pontiac and International
Harvester / Farmall dealership with the tall red
brick chimney, flat roof and shiny plate glass
windows located at 427 Travis Street in La
Grange, just east of the Colorado River Bridge
heading out to Smithville, started out in the
early 1950s as a family business between Mr. and
Mrs. Lester von Rosenberg and Lester’s sister,
Lois von Rosenberg Todd and Mrs. Todd’s husband,
Berger “B. E.” Todd, a native of South Texas.
Prior to World War II, Mr. Todd had been a
vocational agriculture teacher at Fayetteville
High School from 1937-1940, which is where he
crossed paths with his future wife, Lois Marie
von Rosenberg, who was also teaching at
Fayetteville High at the time. Miss von
Rosenberg and Mr. Todd met and married in
Fayetteville in 1939, and in 1940 the young
couple had their first child, Terrye Jean Todd
who was born in Brenham since that same year,
the Todd family had relocated to Washington
County after Mr. Todd had become a vocational
agriculture teacher at Brenham High. He
continued in this role from 1940-1942, during
which time they celebrated the birth of their
second daughter, Becky Ann (Rebeca) Todd, just
before World War II broke out.
B. E. Todd went into military service in 1942,
entering as a reserve officer due to his tenure
at Texas A.& M., and was discharged in 1945,
after having trained troops in New Orleans,
among other places. The Todd family continued to
make Brenham their home during the latter 1940s
where Mr. Todd first encouraged and then
initiated in Brenham and Washington County what
we know of today as one of Texas’s largest dairy
producing regions, through his work starting the
first receiving plant in Brenham with the
Carnation Company in 1946.
Mr. Todd continued his work in the dairy
industry, both in Brenham and then later in
Austin, when in 1952, the family decided to
“come home” to Fayette County and La Grange,
where Mrs. Todd had grown up and where a local
car and tractor dealership was up for sale by
Mr. Pete Looney.
Knowing agriculture from his early days on the
farm down in South Texas (Riviera, Gregory,
Robstown, Taft, and then Beeville) and from his
education in the business at Beeville High
School (Class of 1933) and Texas A.& M.
College (Class of 1937), Mr. Todd saw an
opportunity to pursue his interest in
agriculture and business at the same time, while
Mrs. Todd saw an opportunity to be closer to her
family; parents, Albert and Monica Struve von
Rosenberg and brothers, Sam, Lester and A. L.
von Rosenberg. So it was in 1952 that
Rosenberg-Todd, incorporated was formed by Mr.
and Mrs. Lester von Rosenberg and Mr. and Mrs.
B. E. Todd.
The business flourished in the 1950s and 1960s,
through the local 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 was located just
next door and which operated under the Humble
Oil franchise for many years.
Numerous family members were involved in the
business in addition to Mr. Todd, who served as
President and General Manager, and Lois von
Rosenberg Todd, who acted as book-keeper,
including Mrs. Todd’s younger brother Albert Lee
“A. L.” von Rosenberg, who was bookkeeper before
her, as well as Mrs. Lucille Freytag von
Rosenberg, who was Mr. Todd’s secretary for many
years.
In 1966, Lester von Rosenberg and his wife, Mary
Alice, decided they wanted 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 his life and his
business on his own. His daughter, Terrye Jean
Todd, who had previously been married to Mr.
Harvey Bohot, took Mrs. Todd’s place in the
business as bookkeeper, and her husband became a
partial owner and Assistant Manager. It was this
addition to the management and ownership team
which 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 so well known in Fayette County during the
1970s and 1980s.
After almost four decades in the car and tractor
sales and service business, B. E. Todd who had
since been remarried to Mildred Louise Willmann,
decided it was time to retire. The Oldsmobile
and Pontiac dealership business was sold in the
late 1980s to the Brasher family who ran the
local Chevrolet dealership in La Grange and a
comparable dealership in Weimar in Colorado
County (the International Harvester part of the
business had been non-operating for some time by
then).
Following the sale of the business, the Todd
family retained the real estate block where the
original business was located at Travis and
Water Streets and currently operates a real
estate management firm there, Todd Ventures,
Limited.
UPDATE ~ Hurricane Harvey ~ 2017
The building was swamped by about eight feet of
water from the Colorado River flood which hit La
Grange as a result of Hurricane Harvey. The
building will be reopening in 2018 after months
of repair.
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2010 - 2023 ~ International Harvester
Dealers of the Past
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