abilenet February 26th, 2012
After beautifully anchoring the corner of South 1st and Oak for more than a century, it was sad to watch the century-old Matera Paper building give way to flames and Father Time. Many referred to the red and cream-brick structure as the Matera building due to the large sign letters. Less obvious – but with infinitely greater significance – were the smaller metal letters attached to the north side of the building which once spelled out “J.M. Radford Gro.” The “J” and the “M” stood for James Matthew and the “Gro.” was simply short for Grocery. For nearly fifty years, the James Matthew Radford Wholesale Grocery business was headquartered in what is now a pile of charred rubble.
James Radford, known as “Jim,” claimed that he was drawn west after reading letters sent back by his brother in the early 1880’s and alluringly postmarked from places named Buffalo Gap and Fort Griffin. So, in January of 1883, at the age of 21, Jim Radford arrived in the infant town of Abilene with $1,000 in his pocket. He would invest $600 buying the stock of the bankrupt Waldo Brothers grocery in the firm belief that Abilene was a town bound for growth.
He would grow his tiny investment into a West Texas empire. In 1883, Radford had sold $24,000 worth of groceries. Fifty years later, in 1933, the 71-year old had sold over $400 million dollars in wholesale goods. That original single store had been replaced by the Oak Street warehouse and office headquarters from which Radford oversaw distribution centers spread over 27 cities.
Radford was quick to join any club, volunteer for any effort, and dedicate considerable time and money to any enterprise aimed to help Abilene prosper. Radford served on the boards of the earliest West Texas Fairs. He was a charter member of the Progressive Committee which sought to bring in new industries. He lobbied for more railroads and better public utilities. Along with his wife, he supported the earliest library efforts and personally called on Andrew Carnegie for a building donation. A roster of early Abilene boosters inevitably includes Radford among the Sayles, Legett, Merchant, Wooten, Wagstaff, Paxton, Minter and other early families who endeavored to create a better city.
In his lifetime, Jim Radford built over 40 buildings in Abilene. Many still stand, including the Park Building just across from Radford Grocery. By the 1920’s Radford property holdings comprised five-percent of the city’s total tax base. Undoubtedly, he was proud of the South 1st and Oak building clad in Thurber brick with an interior finished in quarter-sawn oak and polished brass fittings. A 1907 newspaper article boasted of the building’s cold plant and “refrigeration machine” and described how five train cars could be loaded at once through a system of chutes. The last sentence ironically added, “The building is equipped with fire plugs and 200 feet of hose for protection.”
As was his custom throughout his life, Jim Radford worked early until late. On the morning of Monday, July 3, 1933 he was at his office by 6:30 and stayed past sunset. But, before the sun rose the following day, Jim Radford would be dead from a heart attack. The funeral was on July 5th and took place in the Radford’s Hickory Street home. Friends and family gathered on the veranda, across the front lawn, past the sidewalk and out onto the street as Abilenians paid their respects.
Only hours before his death, an Abilene farmer suffering effects of the Great Depression stopped by to see Mr. Radford about possible assistance. As was his nature, Radford was quick to help but did so in secret. As the relieved farmer walked away, Jim Radford turned to his wife saying, “No one need know.”
On February 25, 1933, four months before his death, Abilene threw a surprise party to honor Jim Radford’s fifty years of building Abilene. The ballroom of the Wooten Hotel was packed with friends and admirers as the stunned guest of honor arrived. Accolades were offered by many, including Radford’s longtime grocery competitor, H.O. Wooten. Overcome by the tributes, Jim Radford stood and haltingly offered, “I came to Abilene as a boy with a vision, and I resolved to work and to persevere. A man passes this road but once, and he ought to leave it better than he found it.”
Though the edifice to Mr. Radford’s business empire has now fallen, his constructive civic influence still stands. And, I am proud to live in a city that J.M. Radford passed through.
Jay Moore
February 22, 2012
