TEXAS FAMILIES
Enduring Character the example and principles of Colonel T.C. Frost have guided his family and their business for 145 years. The Frost family of Texas represents a long legacy dating back to 1854 when Colonel Thomas Claiborne, known as T.C., moved to take a teaching position at Austin College in Huntsville. After arriving in the Lone Star State, Frost, who was originally from Alabama and educated in Tennessee, began to study law under Judge Henderson Yoakum, counsel to Sam Houston. Frost would later become a Texas Ranger, Confederate colonel, merchant, auctioneer, freight line operator, postmaster, and district attorney, in addition to founding what would become the largest state-based bank. In an effort to save his brother’s struggling mercantile and auction business, Colonel Frost began helping new Texans establish their farms and ranches in the southern part of the state. He recognized that
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Texas was growing quickly and found his niche supplying new settlers with clothes, equipment, food, ammunition, and other items needed to start their new lives. In another shrewd business move, Frost also began loaning the settlers money so they could purchase necessary provisions. The savvy businessman was able to set the company back on course, and within 10 years, the once-troubled business was one of Texas’ fastest-growing mercantile companies. The Colonel also moved into wool commission work, storing the sheared product in warehouses for sheep ranchers. At the end of shearing season, when wool was most abundant and, therefore, the cheapest, Frost would stockpile the fleece and provide the ranchers with a cash advance based on the future sale of goods. Later, when the market was less satu-
rated, the Colonel would sell the fleece at better rates, taking a commission and returning the remainder of the proceeds to the ranchers, who could then repay their loans to him. This wool commission work marked the beginning of Colonel Frost’s banking enterprise, established in 1868, and now known across the state. More importantly, Frost’s values and high standards for business practice established the benchmark for his descendants and the company today. Those family principles likely guided T.C. Frost’s great-grandson during the younger man’s involvement in the 1968 World’s Fair in San Antonio. When Tom Frost, Jr., took the reins of the company in the 1960s, one of his goals was to improve The Alamo City by bringing more opportunities to an area where the economy was driven by two industries: a strong military presence and agribusiness from the nearby fields of South Texas. In 1962, an idea was proposed for San Antonio to host a world’s fair six years later that would celebrate the city’s 250th birthday. Advancing this proposal would open up a host of funding sources to San Antonio, including federal dollars for interstate highway expansion, urban renewal to demolish old buildings and erect new ones, and construction of new federal buildings. Frost, Jr., not only convinced the bank to help underwrite this event, but he also assumed a prominent role on the project’s executive committee. The 1968 world’s fair undertaking, eventually dubbed the “HemisFair,” prompted the widespread revitalization of San Antonio’s River Walk. Though some efforts had been made by local businesses to beautify and restore the area as a local attraction, preparing the city for the high-profile exposition gave enhancement of the River Walk a much-needed final push. In the end, while the HemisFair was not a financial success, the $1.9 million spent to refurbish the River Walk proved a worthy civic investment. That financing, spearheaded by Tom Frost, Jr., and Frost Bank, yielded a revitalized River Walk that is now San Antonio’s second-most visited destination and contributes between $8 billion and $12 billion to the local economy annually. That same year brought other changes for The Alamo City. As a trustee for the San Antonio Medical Foundation, the fourth-generation banker was influential in bringing a state-supported medical school,
which opened in 1968, to the area. He also lobbied for the selection of a location for this new University of Texas facility, specifically placement at a site where both the medical school and its accompanying teaching hospital would have room to expand. Now, The University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio—the third largest economic generator for the city after the military and tourism—is one of only six facilities in the United States authorized to administer experimental cancer treatments. When Colonel Frost began his mercantile business in the 19th century, he established it on the values of hard work, integrity, honesty, and community. Those priniciples would sustain Frost Bank, which continued to operate and grow through several banking crises, including the Great Depression. The character of T.C. Frost endures today through his descendents and the company that he established 145 years ago— a fitting legacy to a Lone Star business and community icon.—Hannah Curry-McDougald Editor’s Note: Frost Bank received the 2012 THF Star of Texas Award for historical preservation. Resources: • Banking on Tradition: the 130-Year History of Frost National Bank, Tom Walker • Frost Bank website, www.frostbank.com • San Antonio River Walk, www.sanantonioriverwalk.com/ • A Century on Main Plaza: A History of the Frost National Bank by Herbert M. Mason, Jr., with Frank W. Brown Above: The Frost mercantile store struggled in its early days; opposite: Colonel T.C. Frost. Photographs from Frost Bank. Vo l u m e 4 2 0 1 3 |
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