(Elizabeth P. Stevenson remembers the character of Champe Fitzhugh, the insurance man. Source: Stevenson, Elizabeth P. and Stevenson, William interviewed by Beck, Rosalie and Robb, Allan P. May 18, 1987- May 26, 1987. Interview 3 pages 77-78. Baylor University Institute for Oral History.)

Founded in 1886 , Fitzhugh & Co. was one of the oldest insurance agencies in the state of Texas and would serve the Waco area for around 114 years, being passed down member to member of the family to which the company owes its name.

Fitzhugh & Co. was first started by Edward Everett Fitzhugh who was the only employee on the payroll for the beginning of the business’ life. The eldest Fitzhugh would turn to family early on as a source of employees for his company.  In addition to founding his business,  in 1898 Edward Fitzhugh met with 40 other insurance men from various cities in Texas to organize the Independent Insurance Agents of Texas, which is today one of the largest state associations of independent insurance agency professionals in the nation. The firm would grow and occupy varying locations throughout its early years but finally found a permanent home in the Amicable Life Building in 1911, becoming the first tenant to occupy space in the building, beating even Amicable Life in having an office in the building. From there, the firm would continue to grow, and with this growth came its development into a true family held business, with T. Champe Fitzhugh, Edward’s son, joining the business and eventually taking over the its management in 1919.

(Fitzhugh & Co. boast a long history with the Alico building. From being the first residents of the building and being the last non-Amicable Life Insurance members of the building to leave in 1983. Photographer: Gildersleeve in 1912, Courtesy of Alico Photo Gallery.)

During this time, one could find advertisements in Waco newspapers for E.E. Fitzhugh & Co. with the message “Strong Companies-Best Service.”  It was a bold claim for the company but one that seemed to hold up.  As described in a 1964 paper, T. Champe was the only insurance agent that had survived from 1919 up until then. Champe Fitzhugh was active in the community and the industry in which he operated, he became the third president of the IIAT his father had helped found, and even posted columns in newspapers for people with questions regarding insurance. The business showed it could adjust to the times by offering automobile insurance with the increasing amount of cars on the road.

(T. Champe Fitzhugh (center) ran Fitzhugh & Co. following his father’s death in 1919 and ran it until his son bought the firm in 1964. Accessed through Texas Collection cited below.)

Through the dual crises of the great depression and World War II, the firm continued to operate and serve the community. Eventually, T. Champe Fitzhugh’s son, Champe Fitzhugh Jr., returned home from fighting in World War II and became a partner in the firm. It would not take long for Champe Jr. to find himself the Chairman of the Board of the firm, thus continuing the family legacy of the business.

(The data sheet above provides information about Fitzhugh & Co. such as the building it resided in and tracing how it has been passed down. Accessed through Texas Collection cited below.)

The firm continued to serve the Waco area in the way it always had, with great service and competitive policies. They even provided services to Baylor University, presenting the university with insurance maps in the 1960’s. In the year 1983, the firm’s days of operating in the ALICO building had come to an end when American Amicable needed more space in the building for their own operations. It is worth noting however, that in addition to being the first firm in the building, it was the last one not related to American Amicable to leave the building following 73 years of business there. The firm relocated to 2201 Washington Avenue and would continue to service the Waco area with Champe Jr. running the company and emphasizing the value of service to the community by providing help to those who were in need. The company would focus on maintaining its clients, some of which had been with Fitzhugh for 50 years, by continuing to provide the personable service that had made Fitzhugh stand out from the beginning.

(These images are of the 1963 insurance map that Fitzhugh & Co. presented to Baylor. These maps were typically made to asses liabilities in order to help the insurance company and their client. Accessed through Texas Collection cited below.)

In the year 2000, with Champe Jr. at the age of 86, the company was sold to Gary Vanek, known for being COO of National Lloyds Insurance Company. This would bring an end to the family held business tradition stretching back 114 years. While all staff and Fitzhugh himself were allowed to stay on as part of the company, Fitzhugh would go on to form Fitzhugh Insurance & Bonds in 2003 before his death in 2009.

For over a century, Fitzhugh & Co. served businesses and individuals in Waco by providing insurance policies and great customer service. The company reflects a changing Waco as the Fitzhugh’s helped found and lead one of the largest organizations in Texas for insurance agents, showing how in the early twentieth century Waco was poised to be one of the most commercially active cities in the state. And it’s tradition of passing down the family business reflects the spirit of tradition that is alive and well in Waco. Standing for 114 years, Fitzhugh & Co. served Waco faithfully and serves as a time capsule for the changing city.

Sources:

“IIAT Honors Fitzhugh for 60 Years of State Conference Attendance.” Insurance Journal, 23 July 2006, www.insurancejournal.com/magazines/mag-features/2006/07/24/152206.htm.

Parten, Constance. “Fitzhugh & Co. Agency Sells to Former National Lloyds COO.” Insurance Journal, 3 Sept. 2002, www.insurancejournal.com/magazines/mag-features/2000/06/05/22649.htm.

Business History Data Sheet, Waco Tribune Herald articles- Waco, Texas-Business & Industry Fitzhugh & Co., The Texas Collection Baylor University

Photograph of T. Champe Fitzhugh:

Photograph File People: Fernandez-Flanders, Box 147, Folder: Fitzhugh, The Texas Collection Baylor University

Map:

Map of Baylor University area [cartographic material] : Waco, Texas / Fitzhugh & Co., Cubby 7 – 48 Baylor and Waco/Urban Renewal Maps, The Texas Collection, Baylor University

Newspaper References:

The Waco News-Tribune (Waco, Texas), 25 November 1962, Tuesday, Page 23. Accessed with newspapers.com

The Waco News-Tribune (Waco, Texas), 28 April 1920, Tuesday, Page 12. Accessed with newspapers.com

When I think of Sears, I think of the holidays when I was young and my dad would take me out for some last minute Christmas shopping for the other members of my family. However, this holiday season there will be no last minute gift runs as Sears is the latest casualty of the retail industry. But before they were a name associated with my holidays or a case study in “creative destruction,”  Sears seemingly filled a role as an equalizer in a segregated society.

A Washington Post article dives into the Jim Crow South to examine the anomaly in conducting business that the Sears Catalog was. At a time when segregation was a societal norm, reinforced by the laws that state governments had passed, certain businesses reaped great rewards from moving past these boundaries and courting a market that many in the South had spurned, African Americans. This article brings to the forefront the relationship between business, state, and society as Sears acted in a way that diverged from the norms of state and society at the time.

During this time, African Americans attempting to shop at brick and mortar stores faced many challenges:

…Store owners fiercely defended the white-supremacist order by making black customers wait until every white customer had been served and forcing them to buy lower-quality goods. “A black man who needed clothing received a shirt ‘good enough for a darky to wear’ while a black family low on provisions could have only the lowest grade of flour,” historian Grace Elizabeth Hale wrote in an essay published in “Jumpin’ Jim Crow: Southern Politics from Civil War to Civil Rights.”

Things changed with the Sears catalog. The Sears Catalog enabled African Americans in the South access to the same quality of goods as their white counterparts without fear of antagonism and humiliation. In addition to this, the Catalog appealed to rural Southerners who were not as highly educated by allowing requests written illegibly or in broken English to be processed and have the goods shipped.

In addition to business, state, and society, we also see the appearance of unintended consequences  and unacknowledged assumptions. While the owners of Sears may not have been intentionally championing consumer equality, store owners in the South would have you believe that was their exact intention.Threatened store owners spread the rumor that Sears was actually being run run by “black men” who “could not afford to show their faces as retailers.” They took to organizing burnings of the Sears catalogs and offered rewards for those who brought the most to be burned. The company responded by publishing pictures of their owners, clearly showing they were white, to put down these rumors that (tragically) could have affected their operations.

We have talked in class about how firms adjusted their strategies to different groups in society dividing them along lines of gender, region, class, and ethnicity, however the Sears catalog strikes me as something different and perhaps as something revolutionary for its time even if that was not is intention. Justice in our society is often portrayed by Lady Justice wearing a blindfold as if to view each case impartially and not let certain biases cloud her judgement, “Justice is blind.” It seems that Sears created a somewhat similar effect in the marketplace. It did not matter who you were, what color your skin was, your gender, or even your education. The sears catalog simply provided goods to be bought, and if you requested goods and provided the money, you would receive the goods. In this way, Sears made commerce blind, and whether it was their intention or not, they challenged a societal structure rooted in discrimination and enabled a generation of African Americans an equal access to the market place.