In 1952 Padgitt Brothers Leather Company of Dallas renewed its charter to do business. This seems to be an ordinary procedure, but this charter had originally been made for fifty years, and even when the original charter was granted, the firm already had a successful career of thirty years behind it. Thus, for eighty years this company has been serving the Southwest, and since 1874 it has been located in Dallas.
The late Jesse D. Padgitt was founder of the company. An orphan, Padgitt left Tennessee at the age of three and came to Houston, Texas, with an uncle and two older brothers, William and Tom. His ancestors had been saddle and harness makers back to the time of their settlement in Virginia.
Texas was rough and its civilization was young at the time the Padgitts arrived. As a boy in Houston, Padgitt recalled, he had shaken hands with Sam Houston. During the Civil War he had sold papers. Houston was then military headquarters for the state, and about the time Galveston was captured by the Union forces, young Padgitt left Houston for the north. He followed the Houston-Texas Central Railroad which later became part of the Southern Pacific.
Jesse Padgitt and the other young hopeful enterprisers became known as "terminal merchants.” They followed the construction of the railroad, setting up business as the line was built to each terminal and then moving on to the next point ss the railroad was extended and enjoying the prosperity and boom of the construction workers at each point.
These terminal towns, too, were made for moving—at least that part of them which housed the railroad construction workers. Houses, for the most part, were the "shotgun" type, consisting of four walls, a floor, and a ceiling fabricated from almost paper-thin lumber. Thus they could be quickly taken apart and cheaply moved to the next town.
Padgitt came to Dallas in 1874; previously he had operated his business in Millican and Corsicana. After setting up his establishment in Dallas on what is now Main Street and then was Courthouse Square, Jesse Padgitt was joined by his brother William who gave up his own business in Waco to make the move. It was then that the firm adopted the name it still bears—Padgitt Brothers. But it was a quarter of a century later, in 1902, that the company was incorporated and received its fifty-year charter from the state of Texas.
There were no paved streets in the Dallas of the 1870's and in later years Padgitt frequently reminisced about the times when wagons would sink almost out of sight in the mud during rainy weather. Life was rough and at times wild. Buildings, for the most part, we're constructed of light lumber, and Padgitt frequently made his sleeping pallet between two barrels containing iron chains so that, should a gun fight break out near his domicile, a chance bullet would be deflected from the bed on which he slept.
Most men of the town went about armed to protect themselves from robbers who frequently infested the streets and highways. Jesse Padgitt always kept a revolver ready under some papers on his desk, but it was there more for the sense of protection that it gave him than for actual use. In fact he frequently admitted to friends that he would never be able to bring himself to fire a gun at a human being, even in self-protection.
Business operated on a different time schedule in those days. Merchants arose early to deliver circulars to the wagon yards where the rural customers made their headquarters during their stay in town. The folks from the country would arrive early and stay late in order to make the most of their infrequent visits to the city. These wagon yards were open courts surrounded by low frame shelters. Lining the inside of the shelters were feed troughs for the horses. Thus the animals were protected from the hot sun or the rain while the country folks spent the day shopping or visiting. Frequently the merchants would supply the hay and grain to feed the horses and thus win a measure of good will for their enterprises.
With his handbills delivered to the wagons by 6:30 in the morning, the merchant would hurry home for a quick breakfast and then be off to open his business for the early trade. Frequently he would stay at his counter until supper time, dash home to eat, and then return for the evening business.
Jesse Padgitt, however, deviated from his contemporaries in one respect. He invariably went home at noon and had his big meal of the day, following it with a short nap. This pattern he followed all his long life.
Whenever business was slack during the day or evening, the Padgitt Brothers could be found in their workshop cutting, shaping, and tooling the harness or saddles they turned out in ever-increasing quantity. They knew their craft and we're painstaking in their work. Hence the quality of their products won them a ready and wide acceptance, and it was not long before they were shipping saddles made to order all over Texas and other parts of the Southwest.
Jesse Padgitt took pride in his work; it was his greatest love, and he would spend long evening hours to see that a job was finished to perfection before offering it for sale the next day. This became the reputation of the company.
Padgitt was not a large man—in fact, until he filled out a bit later in life, he was well on the short and thin side. When some big, burly customer would come into the shop with a demand to see the proprietor, Padgitt would inform him that the "boss" was out, thus proving that precaution was the better part of valor. Although he shunned physical violence, he lent his full support to every movement that had for its purpose the moral, cultural, and spiritual improvement of his community.
Characteristic of Jesse Padgitt was his shrewd business sense along with high ideals of business ethics. The present Padgitt Brothers building on Commerce Street offers proof of this. It was erected at a cost of $110,000, representing a three-for-one profit he realized by investing $33,000 in an early-day land boom. It is also a testimony to his timing because he knew when to take his profit out of a boom before it collapsed.
Still supplying fine saddles and harness to the great cattle families of the area, the company some years ago added fine leather luggage, also made in its own shops, sporting goods, upholstery supplies, and wholesale hardware to its line.
These terminal towns, too, were made for moving—at least that part of them which housed the railroad construction workers. Houses, for the most part, were the "shotgun" type, consisting of four walls, a floor, and a ceiling fabricated from almost paper-thin lumber. Thus they could be quickly taken apart and cheaply moved to the next town.
Padgitt came to Dallas in 1874; previously he had operated his business in Millican and Corsicana. After setting up his establishment in Dallas on what is now Main Street and then was Courthouse Square, Jesse Padgitt was joined by his brother William who gave up his own business in Waco to make the move. It was then that the firm adopted the name it still bears—Padgitt Brothers. But it was a quarter of a century later, in 1902, that the company was incorporated and received its fifty-year charter from the state of Texas.
There were no paved streets in the Dallas of the 1870's and in later years Padgitt frequently reminisced about the times when wagons would sink almost out of sight in the mud during rainy weather. Life was rough and at times wild. Buildings, for the most part, we're constructed of light lumber, and Padgitt frequently made his sleeping pallet between two barrels containing iron chains so that, should a gun fight break out near his domicile, a chance bullet would be deflected from the bed on which he slept.
Most men of the town went about armed to protect themselves from robbers who frequently infested the streets and highways. Jesse Padgitt always kept a revolver ready under some papers on his desk, but it was there more for the sense of protection that it gave him than for actual use. In fact he frequently admitted to friends that he would never be able to bring himself to fire a gun at a human being, even in self-protection.
Business operated on a different time schedule in those days. Merchants arose early to deliver circulars to the wagon yards where the rural customers made their headquarters during their stay in town. The folks from the country would arrive early and stay late in order to make the most of their infrequent visits to the city. These wagon yards were open courts surrounded by low frame shelters. Lining the inside of the shelters were feed troughs for the horses. Thus the animals were protected from the hot sun or the rain while the country folks spent the day shopping or visiting. Frequently the merchants would supply the hay and grain to feed the horses and thus win a measure of good will for their enterprises.
With his handbills delivered to the wagons by 6:30 in the morning, the merchant would hurry home for a quick breakfast and then be off to open his business for the early trade. Frequently he would stay at his counter until supper time, dash home to eat, and then return for the evening business.
Jesse Padgitt, however, deviated from his contemporaries in one respect. He invariably went home at noon and had his big meal of the day, following it with a short nap. This pattern he followed all his long life.
Whenever business was slack during the day or evening, the Padgitt Brothers could be found in their workshop cutting, shaping, and tooling the harness or saddles they turned out in ever-increasing quantity. They knew their craft and we're painstaking in their work. Hence the quality of their products won them a ready and wide acceptance, and it was not long before they were shipping saddles made to order all over Texas and other parts of the Southwest.
Jesse Padgitt took pride in his work; it was his greatest love, and he would spend long evening hours to see that a job was finished to perfection before offering it for sale the next day. This became the reputation of the company.
Padgitt was not a large man—in fact, until he filled out a bit later in life, he was well on the short and thin side. When some big, burly customer would come into the shop with a demand to see the proprietor, Padgitt would inform him that the "boss" was out, thus proving that precaution was the better part of valor. Although he shunned physical violence, he lent his full support to every movement that had for its purpose the moral, cultural, and spiritual improvement of his community.
Characteristic of Jesse Padgitt was his shrewd business sense along with high ideals of business ethics. The present Padgitt Brothers building on Commerce Street offers proof of this. It was erected at a cost of $110,000, representing a three-for-one profit he realized by investing $33,000 in an early-day land boom. It is also a testimony to his timing because he knew when to take his profit out of a boom before it collapsed.
Still supplying fine saddles and harness to the great cattle families of the area, the company some years ago added fine leather luggage, also made in its own shops, sporting goods, upholstery supplies, and wholesale hardware to its line.
Upon the death of Jesse Padgitt in 1947, the presidency passed to his son, J. Durrell Padgitt, who sees that the old policies and traditions are carried on and that Padgitt Brothers remains a leader in the leather trade.
Winnie MacIver, 1953
SADDLERY MAKERS BLOWN FROM BED
Foreman of Concern Making Harness for Allies and Son Hurt by Bomb.
The Day, New London, Connecticut, July 27, 1915
Foreman of Concern Making Harness for Allies and Son Hurt by Bomb.
Dallas, Texas, July 27.—A bomb placed under a bed in the home of M. T. Moore, foreman of Padgitt Brothers' Saddlery Co., here last night completely wrecked the bedroom. Moore and his son were hurled from the bed and seriously injured.
Moore and his son were sleeping in the same bed. Probably the fact that the mattress was between them and the bomb saved their lives. The bomb apparently had been thrown in through an open window. A large hole was torn through the floor, the walls of an adjoining room collapsed into the faces of its sleeping occupants and the floor of the bedroom above was torn from the walls at the side.
Just before the explosion a woman standing on the opposite side of the street saw a man run out from the back of the Moore residence. As the man disappeared the explosion occurred, shaking houses three blocks away.
Padgitt Brothers have large contracts for saddles and harness for the French and English governments.
J. D. Padgitt, president of the saddlery company, notified police headquarters a short time before the explosion in the Moore home that he had received three anonymous telephone calls saying that his home would be wrecked by a bomb. Officers sent to Mr. Padgitt's residence found two bombs underneath the house primed and ready for ignition.
Mr. Moore, who is about 50 years old, while badly injured, probably will recover. Frank J. Moore, his son, was not seriously injured.
Mr. Padgitt said his company had no friction with labor and he had no idea who placed the bomb.
Moore and his son were sleeping in the same bed. Probably the fact that the mattress was between them and the bomb saved their lives. The bomb apparently had been thrown in through an open window. A large hole was torn through the floor, the walls of an adjoining room collapsed into the faces of its sleeping occupants and the floor of the bedroom above was torn from the walls at the side.
Just before the explosion a woman standing on the opposite side of the street saw a man run out from the back of the Moore residence. As the man disappeared the explosion occurred, shaking houses three blocks away.
Padgitt Brothers have large contracts for saddles and harness for the French and English governments.
J. D. Padgitt, president of the saddlery company, notified police headquarters a short time before the explosion in the Moore home that he had received three anonymous telephone calls saying that his home would be wrecked by a bomb. Officers sent to Mr. Padgitt's residence found two bombs underneath the house primed and ready for ignition.
Mr. Moore, who is about 50 years old, while badly injured, probably will recover. Frank J. Moore, his son, was not seriously injured.
Mr. Padgitt said his company had no friction with labor and he had no idea who placed the bomb.
The Day, New London, Connecticut, July 27, 1915
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