Century-old companies are rare but D-FW has more than a few

With Commercial Metals Co. celebrating a century of recycling and steel-making this year, at least 44 companies headquartered in the Dallas-Fort Worth area are now 100 or older.

Before continuing, a plea for help: Odds are that our research missed some firms that should be included. If you know of one, or more, please email me.

Century-old companies are rare. When IBM turned 100 awhile ago, USA Today reported that fewer than 500 of more than 5,000 U.S. publicly traded companies were that age. A decade earlier, author James Lamprecht noted that about 2.5 percent of more than 30,000 manufacturing firms were a century old.

The Dallas Morning News’ North Texas Century Club list includes some of the biggest publicly traded companies on the planet, such as AT&T Inc. and Exxon Mobil Corp., which moved their headquarters here. It also includes small, family-run operations, such as Dallas Plumbing Co., that have always been based here.

Not included are arguably the two most influential homegrown corporations the region has known. Texas Instruments won’t celebrate its centennial until 2030. Electronic Data Systems, founded by Ross Perot in 1962, was wildly successful for decades. But the EDS name quickly evaporated after the company was acquired by Hewlett-Packard in 2008.

So how does a company survive to be 100, especially in this era of ever-accelerating change?

Experts cite several common characteristics: These companies avoid too much debt. They have a strong culture and sense of mission. They regularly create new growth businesses. They exit old operations when growth stops.

Here are five traits that dominate the North Texas Century Club:

Involve the family. Nothing beats the commitment and sense of business purpose that comes from family connections. It appeared again and again in North Texas as control was passed from generation to generation in companies like Sewell Automotive, Dallas Plumbing, Henry S. Miller, A.H. Belo and Oriental Rug Cleaning.
Be willing to make a big change. There’s no better example than Kimberly-Clark in the 1970s. Under CEO Darwin Smith, K-C sold its paper mills and bet its future on consumer products, like disposable diapers. Smith moved the company to North Texas in 1985, retired as CEO in 1991 and died of a heart attack in 1995. In 2003, best-selling author Jim Collins put Smith on his list of the 10 best CEOs of all time.
Pursue aggressive mergers and acquisitions. “Keep growing,” former AT&T CEO Ed Whitacre told his successor, Randall Stephenson, when Stephenson took the top job in 2007. Stephenson got the message and should soon close the biggest acquisition yet of his career in satellite television provider DirecTV. Other examples of organizations that grew through mergers: BNSF, Exxon Mobil, Baylor Scott & White.
Provide the necessities of life. Think electricity, natural gas and communications. These companies help keep us warm in the winter and cool in the summer, stay in contact with friends and transact business: Atmos, TXU, Oncor, Luminant, AT&T.
Move to D-FW. This may have less to do with longevity than other traits, but it’s still interesting. More than a dozen of the companies on the list moved their headquarters here from somewhere else, including A.H. Belo, which began in Galveston and launched The Dallas Morning News in 1885. Others that moved here include TracyLocke, Dr Pepper, Lennox International, Atmos, Kimberly-Clark, J.C. Penney, Greyhound, BNSF, Exxon Mobil, Fluor, AT&T, Rolland Safe & Lock.
The North Texas Century Club

Adolphus Hotel, Dallas, 1912

Several hundred guests dined on Cotuit oysters, pommes Parisienne and filet of black bass during the grand-opening celebration of the hotel 113 years ago. They also drank a toast to the long life of St. Louis beer baron Adolphus Busch, who built the place at an original cost of $1.5 million. Over the years, the hotel hasn’t changed its name, but it has expanded and changed owners, most recently in 2012, when it was acquired by RockBridge Capital LLC of Columbus, Ohio.

Atlas Metal Works, Dallas, 1904

Because of the levees then being built along the Trinity River, the sheet metal and plate fabrication company moved in 1929 from its original location near downtown to its current site in West Dallas.

Atmos Energy, Dallas, 1906

Eighty years after its beginning in Amarillo, the natural gas distribution company moved its headquarters to Dallas, in part to raise the firm’s visibility. At the time the company was known as Energas, a spinoff from Pioneer Corp. In 1988, with the help of the Richards Group in Dallas, the company changed its name to Atmos. Charlie Vaughan, then the CEO, said he wanted something short and easy to pronounce, according to News columnist Cheryl Hall. The largest natural gas distributor in Texas, Atmos serves a total of about 3 million customers stretching from Virginia to Colorado.

AT&T, Dallas, 1879

The telecom giant traces its beginning to the creation of Bell Telephone 136 years ago. After the breakup of the Bell system in 1984, Southwestern Bell, one of the regional operating companies, rebuilt itself through aggressive acquisitions, eventually purchasing its former parent and reclaiming the valuable AT&T brand by renaming itself. The new AT&T moved its headquarters from San Antonio to Dallas in 2008. Historical note, courtesy of Darwin Payne’s illustrated history of Dallas: Before June 1881, there were only three telephones in the entire city, including one at the home of department store proprietor Alexander Sanger.

Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, 1903

What began in a 14-room renovated house grew over its first 50 years into the world’s largest — 850 beds — Baptist hospital, according to a story in The News at the time. The hospital also spawned the health insurance program that became Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas. Over the years, Baylor has continued to expand and in 2013 merged with Temple-based Scott & White Health, forming Baylor Scott & White, the largest not-for-profit health system in the state, with about $7 billion in annual revenue. “We put the two organizations together because we truly believe that one plus one equals three,” Baylor CEO Joel Allison told The News.

A.H. Belo, Dallas, 1842

The oldest business institution in Texas began in Galveston, started publishing The Dallas Morning News in 1885 and expanded into television in 1950. The firm’s TV stations separated from its newspapers in 2008 and are now part of Gannett Co. As it adapts to the digital age, A.H. Belo’s publishing operation faces one of its biggest challenges yet.

Bolanz & Miller Realtors, Dallas, 1874

If there were a symbolic CEO of the North Texas Century Club, it might be William Crenshaw “Dub” Miller, who died in 2006 at age 100. The former Dallas City Council member and director of the State Fair of Texas was active in his company to the age of 98, according to his obituary in The News. Miller joined his father-in-law’s firm, Bolanz & Bolanz, in 1937. The company calls itself the oldest family-owned and -operated real estate firm in Texas. It began 141 years ago as Murphy & Bolanz, once the official mapmaker for Dallas.

BNSF Railway, Fort Worth, 1849

Among the creators of BNSF’s 390 predecessor lines were legends like James J. Hill, a former steamboat company shipping clerk-turned-empire builder, and his Great Northern Railway. Another predecessor company was the Northern Pacific Railway, whose main line from Bismarck, N.D., to the Columbia River paralleled the route first explored by Lewis and Clark. In 2010, BNSF became part of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. With about 32,000 route-miles, the railroad serves the western two-thirds of the U.S.

Brook Mays Music, Dallas, 1901

Founder Brook Mays wasn’t a musician, but he did appreciate the importance of good music when he started his piano dealership in Dallas shortly after the turn of the last century. When he died in 1940, he left his company to his employees. In 2006, after 105 years of operation, the instrument sales and rental firm was forced into bankruptcy and its assets were liquidated. Former CEO Bill Everitt purchased the names of the old operation and started over. The company, called Brook Mays and H & H Music Co., has stores in North Texas and the Houston area.

Commercial Metals, Irving, 1915

The scrap and steel-making company has had only six CEOs in its history. Three of them — Moses Feldman, Jacob Feldman, Stan Rabin — combined for more than 80 years in the top job. Through the years, the company has dismantled and recycled several smaller railroads, including track and rolling stock. One line, according to The News’ archives, was the Texas Electric, an interurban that ran from Denison to Waco. CMC went public in 1960 and generated about $7 billion in revenue during its most recent fiscal year.

Dallas Plumbing Co., Dallas, 1903

Founded the same year Dallas annexed the city of Oak Cliff, Dallas Plumbing has worked on such projects as Highland Park Village and the Texas Centennial Exposition at Fair Park. In 1914, Clarence Dickerson, an employee, bought the company from the widow of the original owner. Dickerson soon partnered with another employee, Ward Downs. After Dickerson died in 1950, his widow, Mary, became president. She was followed in that post by Downs and successive generations of his family. “We like to think of our business as a happy family that has grown up with Dallas,” Ward Downs told The News in 1963 when the company turned 60.

Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Plano, 1885

Through a soda fountain experiment at a Waco drugstore, Dr Pepper was invented a year before Coca-Cola. That makes it the oldest major soft drink in the U.S., according to the company. Dr Pepper moved its headquarters from Waco to Dallas in 1923, went public in 1946 and grew steadily into the 1980s when a series of buyout-related transformations began. Owned for a time by an investment firm headed by Tom Hicks and Bobby Haas, Dr Pepper merged with Seven-Up Cos., was acquired by Cadbury Schweppes and then separated along with Snapple and other beverage brands in 2008 into a separate publicly traded company doing business in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. In 2014, Dr Pepper Snapple had revenue of more than $6.1 billion.

Exxon Mobil, Irving, 1870 and earlier

The oil company, which moved its headquarters from Manhattan to Irving in 1990, traces its beginnings to John D. Rockefeller and the formation of Standard Oil Co. Mobil goes back even further, to Vacuum Oil, founded in 1866 in Rochester, N.Y. Following a U.S. Supreme Court decision, Standard Oil was broken up in 1911 into 34 companies. Exxon (evolved from Standard Oil of New Jersey) and Mobil (from Standard Oil of New York and Vacuum) merged in 1999, reassembling pieces of the old Standard Oil.

Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Dallas, 1914

As the Great Depression strengthened in 1932, the Dallas Fed issued some advice that still resonates. “Credit is exactly like morphine,” the bank said, according to its online history. “Either credit or morphine used habitually leads inevitably to the gutter.” One of 12 regional banks in the Federal Reserve System, the Dallas Fed serves Texas, northern Louisiana and southern New Mexico. Among many services, it processes cash, check and electronic payments for commercial banks. At year-end 2014, the Dallas Fed had $161 billion in total assets, including $880 million in gold certificates, calculated at a rate set by law of $42.22 per troy ounce.

Fluor, Irving, 1912

The global engineering and construction company, founded by a Swiss immigrant carpenter in California, has worked on such landmark efforts as the Manhattan Project and the Trans-Alaska pipeline. “Fluor’s fingerprints are all over what’s happened in the world the last 100 years,” CEO David Seaton says. The company moved its headquarters to North Texas in 2006 and celebrated its centennial at the Meyerson in 2012 with a symphony commissioned from then-teenage British composer Alex Prior. Fluor called the composition “Dawn of Destiny.” Prior called it his sixth symphony.

Greyhound Lines, Dallas, 1914

Founded by a Swedish immigrant transporting miners on the Iron Range of Minnesota, the company adopted the name Greyhound Corp. in 1929 and began using its famous running dog logo. In 1987, the company divested its U.S. bus operations, which then set up headquarters in Dallas as Greyhound Lines. Several mergers and reorganizations later, the bus company services more than 3,800 destinations in North America and is owned by FirstGroup PLC of the United Kingdom.

Highland Park Soda Fountain, Dallas, 1912

In the 1920s, Highland Park Pharmacy was Dallas’ first drive-in for food and drink, complete with car hops, according to the company’s website. In 2010, the pharmacy was removed from the business, resulting in the name change to Highland Park Soda Fountain.

Jackson Walker, Dallas, 1887

The law firm, with more than 350 attorneys, calls itself Texas-based with global reach and traces its start to its first office, established by W.J.J. Smith in Dallas 128 years ago.

Ben E. Keith Co., Fort Worth, 1906

In the beginning, Ben E. Keith himself delivered orders by horse and buggy. Now the privately held food and beverage distributor has annual revenue in excess of $3 billion,Forbes magazine reported last year.

Kimberly-Clark, Irving, 1872

Four partners, including John Kimberly and Charles Clark, pooled $30,000 to launch the company. A century later, led by CEO Darwin Smith, K-C withdrew from commodity paper markets, sold its mills and bet its future on consumer products like disposable diapers. “It was … one of the best examples in the twentieth century of taking a good company and making it great,” author Jim Collins wrote in his best-selling 2001 book,Good to Great. Since moving its headquarters to Texas in 1985, K-C has acquired Scott Paper Co. and increased its annual revenue five-fold to about $20 billion.

Fred L. Lake & Co., Dallas, 1889

The company, which makes custom rubber stamps, was owned by the Lake family through the late 1980s and acquired by David Atwell in 1992. Atwell told The News in 2002 that he didn’t give much thought to the company’s long history when he bought it. “But I thought it was cool enough that I didn’t change the name,” he said.

Lennox International, Richardson, 1895

Dave Lennox, who ran a machine repair business for railroads, invented the heating industry’s first riveted steel coal-fired furnace and founded the company in Marshalltown, Iowa. In 1904, newspaper publisher D.W. Norris purchased the firm, which remained privately held until 2000 when it went public. Norris’ family still owns a large stake. Lennox moved to Dallas in 1978 and to Richardson in 1990. In 2014, revenue exceeded $3.3 billion.

Locke Lord, Dallas, 1891

Maurice Locke began practicing law in Dallas 124 years ago. Through many combinations, his name is still on the firm, which grew to more than 1,000 lawyers in 23 cities when it merged with Edwards Wildman Palmer LLP in January.

Henry S. Miller Cos., Dallas, 1914

For much of its early life, the real estate firm was a one-man operation, founded by Henry S. Miller Sr. After serving in World War II, though, Henry S. Miller Jr. teamed with his dad and helped create one of the largest real estate companies in the country. Miller Jr. also mentored many agents who went on to establish their own firms, like Herb Weitzman and Dallas Cowboys legend Roger Staubach. “I was very fortunate to have a great mentor on the playing field, Tom Landry,” Staubach once told The News’Steve Brown. “And Mr. Miller was my mentor in business.” The firm’s current CEO is Greg Miller, a grandson of Henry Jr. Shown above: Henry Miller Jr., left, and Henry Miller III.

Neiman Marcus, Dallas, 1907

Stanley Marcus died in 2002 at the age of 96. He “was a retailing genius who put Dallas on the international fashion map,” Maria Halkias wrote then in The News. Marcus transformed the company founded by his father, aunt and uncle into one of the best-known luxury retailers in the world. Revenue for the Neiman Marcus Group, currently owned by Ares Management and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, approached $5 billion last year.

Nicholson-Hardie Nursery & Garden Center, Dallas, 1899

Started by a young Scotsman and merged with another garden company a half-century later, Nicholson-Hardie is “where society gets its shrubs … and its flowers and fountains and azaleas and advice,” Rob Brinkley wrote recently in FD magazine. Shown above: co-owners Michael and Josh Bracken.

Oriental Rug Cleaning Co., Dallas, 1911

Three generations of the Amirkhan family have run the company, located on Ross Avenue since the 1920s. Oriental rugs should be vacuumed regularly, Ellen Amirkhan, granddaughter of the company founder, told The News on the occasion of the company’s centennial in 2011. Otherwise, dry particulate matter — dirt — can act as sandpaper and accelerate wear.

Parkland Memorial Hospital, Dallas, 1894

In 1893, voters approved $40,000 in bonds for a new hospital at Maple and Oak Lawn avenues, then just outside the city limits. The hospital opened the next year. This August, 121 years later, a new Parkland is scheduled to open. Cost: About $1.3 billion for 2.8 million square feet. One of the busiest public hospitals in the country, the Parkland system recorded total operating revenue of nearly $824 million in fiscal 2014 and had operating expenses of $1.3 billion.

J.C. Penney, Plano, 1902

Calling it the Golden Rule, James Cash Penney opened his first dry goods store in Kemmerer, Wyo. He moved the company’s headquarters to Salt Lake City in 1909 and then New York City in 1914. Attracted in part by acres of inexpensive office space and cheap land on which to build, the company moved its headquarters to North Texas in 1988. Like many retailers in recent years, Penney has been pruning and refocusing its operations.

Pierce Pump Co., Dallas, 1897

Founded by William Pierce, who specialized in pumps for farms and rural homes, the company was acquired in 2013 by Columbus, Ohio-based FCX Performance, which was acquired by private equity firm Harvest Partners.

Republic Group, Dallas, 1903

Beginning with fire insurance, Republic Insurance Co. has grown into Republic Group and now offers personal and commercial coverage through independent agents primarily in Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico and Arkansas.

Ridgway Mailing, Dallas, 1905

Located near the main post office and the bulk mail center in Dallas, Ridgway has evolved from its beginnings as a printing firm to a direct mail and order fulfillment company.

Rolland Safe & Lock Co., Dallas, 1905

Founded in New Orleans, the security company moved to Dallas in 1983.

Rudolph’s Market and Sausage Factory, Dallas, 1895

The chopping blocks are deeply cupped from decades of slicing and cutting meat. No mistake. This place is authentic, whether you want steaks for the grill or pork butt for the smoker. Beginning in the 1930s, Cyrill “Sid” Pokladnik and his wife, Justine Marie, ran a grocery story next to Rudolph’s on Elm Street in Deep Ellum. When the owner of Rudolph’s retired in 1947, the Pokladniks took over. Their descendants still run the place, which goes by the motto: “Your Neighborhood Butcher Shop — Since 1895.”

Sewell Automotive Cos., Dallas, 1911

Over the next couple of years, Sewell plans to add four German-brand car dealerships, bringing the company total to 18. That’s a long way from the beginning when Carl Sewell’s grandfather began selling Ford Model T’s out of his hardware store and livery in Arlington. The company is privately held and doesn’t normally discuss financial information. In a 2010 story, though, The News’ Terry Box said Sewell had annual revenue of more than $500 million.

Sparkman/Hillcrest Funeral Home, Dallas, 1893

For a while the Sparkman family’s funeral business was located in downtown Dallas in the Belo Mansion, built by the founder of The Dallas Morning News. That’s where the funeral for the notorious Clyde Barrow was held in 1934. The funeral home moved to its current location on West Northwest Highway in 1968.

Star-Telegram, Fort Worth, 1906

When Fort Worth publisher and oilman Amon Giles Carter died in 1955, his obituary inThe News called him “perhaps the most internationally famous Texan of the 20th century.” With a small group, he launched the Fort Worth Star, which bought out the rival Telegram in 1909, creating the Star-Telegram. Several years later, according to an old biographical sketch by The Associated Press, Carter gained controlling interest of the publishing company. Like other newspapers today, the Star-Telegram has gone through wrenching change. It is currently owned by the McClatchy Co. Carter’s legacy, though, lives on. Among many honors, he has a museum and college football stadium named after him in Fort Worth and a mountain peak — 5,688 feet — in Big Bend National Park.

Texas Pacific Land Trust, Dallas, 1888

For 2014, the trust reported the highest net income — $34.7 million — in its 127-year history, largely because of the oil boom. Created during the reorganization of the Texas and Pacific Railway Co., which came to Dallas in 1873, the trust manages and sells property acquired by the railroad through land grants. While the original 3.5 million acres has declined to about 900,000, the trust has a royalty interest in about 3,400 oil and gas wells. The T&P railroad itself was later acquired by Missouri Pacific, which was acquired by Union Pacific, a large rival to BNSF.

Thompson & Knight, Dallas, 1887

On its website, the law firm says it grew up with Dallas “in many ways.” Thompson & Knight was founded by William Thompson and R.E.L. Knight, law graduates of the University of Texas. The firm has about 150 partners and offices throughout Texas as well as New York, California and international.

The Cattleman, Fort Worth, 1914

One of the oldest publications of its kind in the country, The Cattleman has offered the same basic fare for 101 years. Readers can count on stories about raising cattle, managing their land, preventing livestock illness and fighting theft. Published by the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, which was founded in 1877, the magazine has featured work from famed cowboy photographer Erwin Smith, author J. Frank Dobie and John Erickson, creator of the Hank the Cowdog series of books and tapes.

TracyLocke, Dallas, 1913

Founded in Oklahoma City by Shelly Tracy and Raymond Locke, the marketing agency moved its headquarters to Dallas in 1917 and became part of Omnicom Group in 1982. Over the years, TracyLocke gave 7-Eleven its name, introduced Borden’s Elsie the Cow and came up with the term “slacks” for Haggar’s casual trousers. Shown above: former CEO and current mayor Mike Rawlings, with microphone, and Tracey-Locke employees celebrate the 75th anniversary.

TXU Energy, Luminant and Oncor, Dallas, 1882 or so

The genealogy here gets complicated, indirectly extending back to the Dallas Electric Lighting Co. and the first electric lights in town. Through industry consolidation, regulation and deregulation, foreign expansion and retreat, what had become TXU Corp. was acquired by private equity firms for $45 billion in 2007. Energy Future Holdings, the resulting company, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2014. TXU Energy is the retail electric provider of EFH, Luminant the wholesale electric generation provider, and Oncor the regulated transmission and distribution utility.