The Harness Maker's Dream: Nathan Kallison and the Rise of South Texas

Ten: The Best Years

Et TEN The Besl Years W ITH THE NEW POSTWAR America open for business again, Morris and Perry Kallison's ambitions now grew broader than Nathan had ever envisioned. In the euphoria created by the parallel victories over Germany and Japan, and after four years of unparalleled sacrifice on faraway battlefields, supported by patriotic discipline at home, there was no limit to what Americans thought they could accomplish. Enjoying a comfortable level of unpretentious prosperity in San Antonio, the Kallison brothers immediately began planning to expand what Nathan had built. The end of World War II had released a surge of pent-up demand for all kinds of consumer goods and services that had not been available while the entire country's industry was dedicated to producing weapons and materials for the armed services. Fifteen million servicemen and women returning to civilian life created immediate needs for housing, automobiles, and every other American consumer product. When the GI Bill of Rights was signed into law in 1944, new and even broader opportunities opened. Millions of war veterans would be able to attend college, buy homes, and start businesses. And American agriculture, devoted to raising food for the war effort, now was challenged not only to meet new demands at home, but also to feed hungry people overseas whose countries had been devastated by the war. Morris and Perry Kallison sawall of those challenges as opportunities which they eagerly sought to seize. Their decisions would result THE HARNESS MAKER'S DREAM in the Kallison enterprise's finest era, during which the family-owned business would compete successfully with retail giants Sears, Roebuck & Company and Montgomery Ward, as well as with farm implement stores, specialty retailers, and even with loske's, at that time part of the Allied Stores chain and one of the nation's leading department stores. Because of the wide range of merchandise the store offered, Kallison's was unique in Texas. The San Antonio business economy was still led by older mainstays , though-in banking, the Frost National Bank and the National Bank of Commerce of San Antonio; in manufacturing and distribution , Pioneer Flour Mills and The Roegelein Company; in building and maintenance, Steves & Sons, Friedrich Air Condition & Refrigeration Company, and Alamo Cement Company; and in merchandising , loske's, Frost Brothers (fine women's clothing), and Wolff & Marx (general apparel for men, women, and children).' Kallison's Big Country Store covered almost all retail categories with its wide range of merchandise. Like many other cities in America, San Antonio had prospered quickly during the postwar years, but it no longer reigned as the state's dominant city. While it was lying somnolent during the 1930s and the Dust Bowl, its economy had been surpassed by Dallas and Houston, cities that grew even during the Depression. Well to the south and slightly west of Dallas, the "Alamo City"lacked the central location and transportation network that had positioned Dallas to become Texas's financial and merchandise center. San Antonio also lacked the deep channel port, surrounding oil fields, and petrochemical plants that propelled the rise of Houston. Nevertheless, Morris and Perry, along with other downtown businessmen, worked tirelessly to persuade new industries and businesses to come to San Antonio. Aside from some food processing and garment manufacture, however , growth and prosperity in San Antonio still depended primarily on its large military establishment-the source of one-third of all jobs. Economic success also banked on the city's tourist attractions, the construction industry, and on agriculture from the surrounding THE BEST YEARS counties. Ai; the country transitioned from wartime to a peacetime economy, the resourceful Kallisons sought to profit from each of the city's strengths. One opportunity appeared immediately. The federal government was pumping billions of dollars' worth of surplus military equipment into the market, creating a new type of retail outlet, the "army surplus store." Everything from American military jeeps and trucks to uniforms , helmets, and canteens were now available for civilians to purchase . Always ready to experiment with new products, Perry and Morris jumped in. They ordered hundreds of surplus gas-powered army generators, believing that they would be extremely useful for their rural customers. Offered for $178 to $480 each, depending on size, the generators were advertised by the government as capable of powering ten sixty-watt lamps, two pumps for water in the house or barn, a small chicken brooder, and a milking machine...