Current Member Spotlight
Bruce-Rogers Company
In May of 1922 a group of seven investors purchased the Fort Smith, Arkansas, branch office of a Tulsa-based wholesaler, Meister Brothers – Bracht Company. The major shareholders of the new company were Mr. Bert Bruce and Mr. Doug Rogers, Sr., thus the new business was named the Bruce-Rogers Company. The company at that time was a wholesale distributor of plumbing supplies, mill and mine supplies, electrical components, light plants, and automobile accessories located at 51-55 South 6th Street.
The newly formed Bruce-Rogers Company continued operating in that location as a wholesale distributor of plumbing and mill and mine supplies, but discontinued handling electrical supplies, light plants, and automobile accessories. By the early 1950s, with the growth of manufacturing in western Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma, the company had evolved into a general line plumbing and industrial supply house. From 1950 to 1969, the company operated a machine shop to complement industrial supply sales, which was located across from the warehouse on 6th Street. The plumbing supply business grew as bathrooms and kitchens received more consideration and emphasis in new residential construction. Heating and air-conditioning product lines were added in 1972.
Mr. Bert Bruce was the first president of the Bruce-Rogers Company. In 1932, the Bruce family sold its interest in the company to the remaining shareholders. At that time, Mr. Doug Rogers, Sr. became president and was the major shareholder. He served as the president and general manager until his untimely death in 1938. He was succeeded by Mr. O. E. “Otto” Hennig, who was one of the original investors in the company. Mr. Hennig served the company as president and general manager until 1950. Mr. Hennig was succeeded by Mr. Douglas G. Rogers, Jr. who rejoined the company in 1945 after military service.
Under Mr. Rogers’ leadership, the company established branch locations in Rogers and Russellville, Arkansas as well as new warehouse facilities in both locations. A new warehouse was also built in Fort Smith during his tenure. He was instrumental in growing the business as well as consolidating the ownership to his immediate family. He retired in 1986 and assumed the position of chairman until his death in December, 1988. Mr. Rogers, Jr. was succeeded as president and general manager by his son, Doug Rogers, III, who is currently the president and general manager.
In 1993, Rogers, III established an Employee Stock Ownership Trust (ESOT), which purchased the interests of all other family members. Today the majority of company stock is owned by its employees. According to Rogers, “Creating the ESOT gave the people whose efforts make this business successful a vested interest in its performance. Many great people have contributed to the life of this company over the past eighty-six years, whether they served as employees, customers, or suppliers. I feel fortunate to have known and worked with many of them.”
Today Bruce-Rogers Company operates primarily as a plumbing, heating, and air-conditioning equipment supply house, serving plumbing, heating, and air-conditioning contractors in western Arkansas, eastern Oklahoma, and southern Missouri. The company employs 50 people. The company’s home office is located in Fort Smith, Arkansas, with branch locations in Rogers, Russellville, Conway, Mena, and Hot Springs.
Previous Member Spotlights
Williams/Crawford & Associates
Imagine being able to work side-by-side everyday with clients who are also close friends. Imagine being able to truly get excited about being at the office every day. Imagine doing work for some of the largest companies in North America. Now imagine doing it in a restored 100-year-old-house in downtown Fort Smith. Fred Williams is lucky. He doesn’t have to imagine any of it; he gets to live it every day.
“Do what’s best for the client,” says Williams. “That’s what’s best for the agency.” The result of that principle has yielded an advertising agency with a 25-year success record and a reputation that clients seek.
“By 1982, I started seeing an opportunity in the marketplace and had always wanted to do it on my own,” Williams explains. “In July of 1982, I started on my own, mainly focusing again on financial institutions. I went to the part of the state where no one was representing banks, and those were in the northern counties. They didn’t trust anybody from Little Rock. Fort Smith agencies wouldn’t go up there, and they wouldn’t let anyone from Springfield, Missouri to come down and do business with them.”
The turning point came in 1983 when Williams’ path intersected with that of another local company, K-MAC Enterprises. K-MAC was beginning to stir the marketplace as a franchisee of Taco Bell and Kentucky Fried Chicken. After seeing what Williams was capable of doing via the pro bono work for the United Way, Kenny King, president of K-MAC, asked Williams to pitch the business. A unique partnership was created.
Williams’ agency doubled its size overnight. “It was interesting. I didn’t have much experience in the retail fast-food segment, but I knew I could help as they grew. I can’t even begin to explain how much I’ve learned from them, especially from Kenny King and Sam Fiori.”
The agency grew dramatically, growing from $410,000 in 1982 to approximately $21 million in capitalized billings in 2007. The company’s reputation for personal and quality marketing services at fair prices attracted more franchise business. “We’ve been very lucky to partner with clients who appreciate what we can offer,” says Williams. The agency now represents over 700 Taco Bell restaurants throughout the country, as well as over 100 KFC stores.
Known throughout the industry as a “wealth of talent off the beaten path,” Williams’ agency added a key new hire in 1986 when Kevin Crawford came aboard. Kevin became a partner in 2002, and the company was renamed Williams/Crawford & Associates. Today the firm employs 20 people. Katie Cravens, Williams’ daughter, works in the business, as well. “I like watching her learn the business,” Williams says. “It’s been a pleasure working with her and keeping my family involved.” The company celebrated 25 years in business in 2007.
Today, Fred’s biggest challenge is adapting to the need to let others assume more of the responsibilities as the business grows. The loss of his son in 2004 did much to adjust his thinking in this regard. Fred admits that he still hasn’t mastered this balance. “I’ve learned to hire the best talent I can find,” he adds, “set the overall course, and then stay out of the way as much as possible. The team here is the real reason for our success.”
While Fred’s business interests are primarily tied to the advertising agency, he also owns commercial property in Van Buren and Fort Smith, as well as family cattle operations in the area.
“A large challenge in the agricultural division is that it is a family business,” Williams explains. “I own all the cattle and equipment, but the land is owned by three different family trusts, of which one is mine. With fuel, feed, and fertilizer doubling or tripling over the last couple of years, cattle prices have actually gone down.”
Williams adds, “That may seem like a huge challenge; however, it’s not a challenge at all compared to dealing with family issues involving the land. The land has a great deal of wealth, as well as a great deal of headaches. That’s really where the Family Enterprise Center has helped me, not necessarily from the advertising agency standpoint, but from dealing with issues related to the family.”
Williams/Crawford & Associates – a great story, a great business!
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T.J. Smith Box Company, Inc.
The news article reads: “One sister dared to dream. Another dared to believe. Together, daring and believing, they created a reality – the T. J. Smith Box Company, Inc.” There are few more unusual stories than this one.
Thomas Jefferson (T.J.) Smith, named after the famous President of the United States, was born in 1851 in Corinth, Mississippi. He later moved to Arkansas, living in Russellville and Clarksville, before settling in Fort Smith in the late 1870s. He married in 1875. After moving to Fort Smith, T.J. started a monument business producing and selling tombstones in the area, retiring from the business in 1900 to manage the real estate holdings he had accumulated over the years.
Of the Smiths four children, only two daughters survived, Bird and Isla Rea. In 1923, with support from their father, the two Smith sisters started the T. J. Smith Box Company in a garage. Soon after they began operations, they moved to Byrnes Street off Towson Avenue and later to Second Street. After the facility was flooded in 1943, the company moved into a new building at 515 South I Street, where it is today.
From the beginning, the Smith sisters (as they were called by many people in Fort Smith) were the sales force of the company. Each had her own territory: Isla Rea sold in Oklahoma, and Bird covered Arkansas, Missouri, and Louisiana. At that time it was unusual for women to travel alone, and thus another woman, daughter, or friend traveled with them on their sales trips. At that time the company was producing paperboard boxes for department store gift boxes, stationary boxes and retail packaging.
Bird Smith Johnson served as president of the company from its founding to her death on October 12, 1977. Isla Rea was secretary-treasurer when the company started and held that position until her death on September 23, 1970. The company continued in family hands until it was sold to the Dick Hahn family in 1996. Dick serves as president and son, Chris, as production manager.
Today, T.J. Smith Box sells primarily within a 250 mile radius to wholesale distributors and manufacturers. Their 30 employees occupy the 72,000 square feet of warehouse and production space.
Specializing in small to mid volume carton customers they sell plain and printed folding cartons to food producers, commercial printers, bakeries, automotive and electronics companies, tool manufacturers, outdoor products companies, and many others.
Weldon, Williams and Lick remains their oldest customer.
Dick and Chris believe strongly in the value and knowledge of their many long term employees and look forward to meeting the packaging needs of their customers in the future.
T.J. Smith Box Company began as a family business and continues as one.
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Griffin Properties of Fort Smith, LLC
The Richard B. Griffin family of Fort Smith is perhaps best known as a real estate development company, but that is only a reflection of the business’ evolution over the past 50 years. Richard’s father, Harry P. Griffin, started in the lumber industry during the 1950s, though his business would later be closed. While Richard worked at the lumber yard for his father, he decided he would rather build houses. He built his first homes in the early 1960s. His business later became Griffin Construction Company.
The construction company struggled financially through the 1960s and shifted its emphasis from residential to commercial construction. During the 1970s the company was generally performing commercial construction bid work. A pivotal event occurred when a local nursing home owner-operator named Leisure Lodges (which later became Beverly Enterprises) came to Richard with plans to construct a skilled nursing home in north Arkansas. This relationship introduced the Griffins to the nursing home business and was their company’s first step outside the local market.
Richard’s son, Rick, came into the business in 1980 after graduating with a construction management degree from Oklahoma State University. In 1984 the Griffins determined that they would specialize as a design-builder of nursing homes, foregoing other types of construction. Throughout the 1980s they built nursing homes in 15 central and southern states ranging from Arkansas, Texas, Oklahoma, and Missouri to as far east as Virginia and south into Florida.
By the late 1980s, the business vision again shifted, the result of a rather serendipitous event. In 1989 a Georgia-based nursing home construction client was unable to pay the Griffins for work done, creating a financial crisis for the company. In negotiating with the customer and its lenders, the Griffins became the owners of that nursing home, leasing it back to the defaulting client. This was the catalyst that began the process to move the company to become a nursing home developer. Throughout the 1990s the Griffins pursued both the construction and the development of nursing homes.
In 1996 Griffin Properties of Fort Smith, LLC was formed to oversee the growing nursing home development business, with Griffin Construction Company assuming a less prominent role. Today, Griffin Properties works in the nursing home development-leasing business. Rick handles the day-to-day operations of both Griffin Construction Company and Griffin Properties. Richard remains active in both businesses, but his true love is the purchase and redevelopment of downtown Fort Smith property. The Griffins have renovated and developed numerous downtown properties, including the Varsity Grill, the Morton Building, the Warner Smith Law office building, and they are currently completing the renovation of the St. Charles Hotel, located at North 5th and A Street, converting it to an office building.
Over the years, the companies have been involved in the development and leasing of over 50 nursing homes, creating over 12,000 nursing home beds in the process. They directly employ about 20 employees, but indirectly through their nursing home developments, have created hundreds of jobs in the communities they operate.
Today, approximately 90% of the business is focused on the development of new nursing homes, which are leased to clients. They operate primarily in Arkansas, Texas, and Tennessee, but are continuously prospecting for new opportunities. The Griffin family is now approaching half a century of family owned and operated businesses. They look forward to the next 50 years.
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Weldon, Williams and Lick
Weldon, Williams, and Lick, Inc. began in 1898 with Oliver D. (Bud) Weldon, George T. Williams, and Chauncey A. Lick. O. D. Weldon was a local editor and business manager of the Fort Smith Weekly Elevator. George T. Williams was the company’s original secretary-treasurer, but after a few years sold his interest in the business to Lick and returned to the coal business in south Sebastian County.
Chauncey A. Lick landed in Fort Smith with a watch and $1.47 in his pocket. He obtained a job in a printing shop and a few years later opened his own business as "Lick, Artist Printer." A short time after, Lick formed a partnership with Lawson Thrash under the name "Thrash-Lick" to perform general printing jobs, as well as booklets and a weekly newspaper. In 1898, Lick sold his interest in Thrash-Lick and then, with O. D. Weldon and George T. Williams, established the firm of Weldon, Williams and Lick.
The company’s first location was on the corner of 8th and Garrison Avenue, above one of Garrison’s many saloons. The first purchase of land at the corner of 7th and "A" Street, where the company now stands, was made in 1906 for $5,000.00. The building constructed there contains three stories and 12,000 square feet of floor space and is still in good condition.
From the beginning, Lick's idea had been to steer the company toward numbered printing, such as reserved seat tickets and coupon books. That he succeeded in this and attracted customers of national renown to a place as remote as Fort Smith was as much a tribute to his skills as a leader of men as it was to his ability as a perceptive businessman, craftsman, and salesperson.
Lick also set forth with a strong conviction about the importance of good customer relations. He believed that, "Business goes where it is invited and stays where it is well treated. The customer is, after all, the real boss in any business." Lick developed a sense of pride among WW&L's people, as they were able to produce and deliver their products in a manner that created satisfied and loyal customers.
Under Lick’s leadership, WW&L grew into a firm that placed great importance on such things as employee relations, honesty in all dealings, conservative financial management, frugality in operations, and dedication to serving the customer well.
WW&L continued to grow and expand its following of customers beyond Fort Smith. Product diversification led to market growth in the areas of college parking stickers, state validation stickers, ski lift tickets, game and fish stamps, screen-process coating, lithography, flexography, and computerization.
Four individuals have provided company leadership in its 100+ year history: C. A. Lick - 1898-1948; his son, Cap Lick - 1948-1961; his grandson, Bud Jackson - 1961-1985; and his great grandson, Jim Walcott - 1985-present.
The company’s growth has been evident in the additions to the buildings themselves. After thirteen additions to the building complex, WW&L now occupies 190,000 square feet of floor space, employs 330 people, each with an average 16 years of service. In 2006 the company had over $40 million in total sales.
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Hanna Oil & Gas Company
In 1963, Jim Hanna saw an opportunity to buy, sell, and trade mineral leases. Using any money he could get his hands on, including the family milk money, he bought, traded and re-sold leases. He formed a few investment companies to generate the necessary capital to begin drilling natural gas wells. Hanna Oil and Gas was formed soon after with only two employees.
The company began drilling its own wells in 1972 and has since tapped many virgin reservoirs. One of these wells required a blow-out crew from Oklahoma City to contain the well output. An early well drilled in the 1970s in Crawford County is still producing strongly today.
In 1999, Jim Hanna transferred management to his son, William “Bill” Hanna, the current President. Two other members of the second generation serve on the Board of Directors, son Michael and daughter Kim Behrend. The company now boasts over forty employees, many having been with the company over ten years and some for more than twenty years.
Today, the company has corporate offices in Fort Smith, AR, but also has operations in Calgary, Canada and a production office in Ratcliff, AR. Its market includes many areas in the U.S. and Alberta, Canada. Hanna Oil and Gas continues to buy mineral leases, but also operates numerous gas wells. The company drills for additional natural gas and oil wells with investment partners. Hanna also owns a natural gas pipeline and has other real estate ventures in the portfolio.
“All of our business family serves the community in various ways through charity, environmental, spiritual, educational or recreational activism. Valuing long term relationships with our business family, the landowners we explore on, the partners we explore with, and the communities where we operate, makes us who we are.”
Hanna Oil and Gas: “Providing jobs and supplying North America with its energy needs” – our spotlight member.
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Littlefield Oil Company
In a rural town in western Arkansas, two brothers were raised on their father’s farm. The brothers joined the military and served bravely in World War II. A.B. Littlefield, Sr. fought in and survived the Battle of the Bulge. Upon his return in 1946 to Booneville, Arkansas, A.B, and his wife, Wynema, along with his brother, W.C. and sister-in-law, Emma Lou opened a small service station. After realizing a need for fuel deliveries in parts of Arkansas other than south Logan County, they established a small distributorship with one delivery truck. This truck was used to deliver fuel to other stations in western Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma. The company was run by the two men and their wives for several years. Since that time, Littlefield Oil Company has acquired several other oil companies as well as several branch locations.
In 2002, Littlefield Oil Company combined all of the six branch locations into one home office in Fort Smith, Arkansas. Littlefield Oil Company chose Fort Smith as its home office location to increase efficiency. The centralized location of the home office allows easy access to the Fort Smith, Magellan Fuel Terminal and to the I-40/540 corridor to both Northwest Arkansas and Oklahoma. The Littlefield family is proud to be new members of the Fort Smith community.
Today, Littlefield Oil Company employees a workforce of over 50 employees, servicing over 1,900 customers from various industries including: convenience stores, truck stops, construction companies, farm fuels, trucking companies, drilling rigs, and municipalities. Their service area includes all of Arkansas, western Oklahoma, and southern Missouri.
Littlefield Oil Company prides itself in its excellence in the fuel industry and has broadened its services to include rentals and land management, transportation and services, convenience store operations, car washes, fuel equipment installation and maintenance, and environmental compliance. Littlefield Oil Company strives for superior customer service in every area of operations.
The Littlefield family still operates the company today. Wynema Littlefield, owner, is very active in the business. A.B. “Buddy” Littlefield, Jr. is the company’s president & CEO. Buddy, with his vision and forward thinking, has thrust the business into a new era of technology and operations. Several members of the family’s third generation are active in the management of the business.
The Littlefield family is especially appreciative of their “extended” family, their employees, for many years of dedication, teamwork, and loyalty. Without their help, Littlefield Oil Company could not have grown to what it is today.
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Post Familie Vineyards and Winery
Drawn by the Benedictines of New Subiaco Abbey, and with the availability of railroad land for settlement, a colony of German-Swiss immigrants settled in the foothills of the Ozark Mountains and began growing grapes in the 1870s at Altus in Franklin County. Jacob Post was one of these early viticultural pioneers, who found great potential for grape production in the Arkansas River Valley. Mountains, valleys, and soil that drained well closely resembled the microclimates that had for centuries nurtured Europe's great wines. The Boston Mountains north of Altus provided a barrier to the winter cold, and the elevation of small, flat-top mountains usually prevented spring frost, which can kill grapes.
Just before Prohibition, approximately 40 wineries in the Altus region had applied for wine permits and many had found a market ready for wines — especially among the immigrant railroad workers and coal miners who, like the early settlers, were accustomed to enjoying wine with meals. During Prohibition, Post Winery, like many other growers, switched to table grape varieties, legally made wine for liturgical services, and even admittedly hid some of its wine behind locked doors!
Although originating as a small, immigrant winery, today's Post Familie Vineyards & Winery has become the largest in the state. Operated by its fourth and fifth-generation descendants, the winery remains in Altus, now located within the Altus Viticultural Area, a distinctive wine growing area designated by the federal government in 1984.
Touring Post Familie begins under a trellis, and proceeds to the tank rooms of the production facility. Guides explain the six-week fermentation process that takes place in the tanks, which are between 800 gallons for experimental lots and 4,000 to 12,000 gallons for Post's more popular wines. Next, visitors learn about the crushers and presses — an intense process to watch if visiting during harvest time, primarily August and September. Next, it’s on to the bottling room, where visitors will see more than 60 bottles per minute filled, corked and sent to the labeler on a mechanical track. The tour ends up in the tasting room and well-appointed gift shop.
While Post Familie vints classic wines such as Chardonnay and Cabernet, wine lovers may not realize that Arkansas holds much more for their taste buds. Many of the wines that Post produces are not made in other well-known wine regions of the U.S., especially California. Cynthiana and Muscadine grapes, for example, are native to Arkansas.
"I think the best part is that we also make the [varieties of] wines that are made in California, so you can still taste those wines," Dr. Justin Morris, an internationally renowned enologist and director of the University of Arkansas Institute of Food Science and Engineering, explained. "But, you have the advantage of tasting wines [in Arkansas] you would not find in a California setting."
Post Familie may be found within historic Altus, the Wine Capital of Arkansas - five miles south of Interstate 40 (Exit 41) on Ark. 186, about one hour east of Fort Smith. For more information, call them at (800) 275-8423 or visit www.postfamilie.com.
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Forsgren, Inc.
If you visit the offices of Forsgren, Inc., you will find nearly sixty years of photographs depicting the history of this family business.
In the early 1900’s Olaf Victor Forsgren, a Swedish immigrant, founded what was then know as the Phoenix Cement and Sidewalk Company. The company’s emblem can still be found today in many of the sidewalks that line the streets of Fort Smith.
In 1936, Forsgren Bros. Construction was formed as a result of the family’s pioneer paving efforts and shortly thereafter expanded into building bridges, earthwork, and other forms of concrete work. Since Olaf Victor Forsgren decided to make Fort Smith his home, each generation of the Forsgren family has taken the company further in carrying out the family mission of construction excellence and community service.
In 1955, the company incorporated as Forsgren, Inc., with the proud heritage and identity that it retains today. In 1988, Vic Forsgren became the third generation of Forsgrens to head the company. Under his leadership the company expanded to offer a wide range of abilities in construction expertise.
Today, one member of the third generation and three members of the fourth generation serve in leadership roles in the company created and built by the hard work and diligence of the Forsgren legacy.
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Smith Chevrolet Cadillac Company
Smith Chevrolet was created in 1938 when Mose Smith, Jr. purchased Sutton Chevrolet in downtown Fort Smith. The company opened with thirty-one employees at 105-15 North 7th street and remained there for twenty-five years. In 1940 Smith Chevrolet Company became Smith Chevrolet Cadillac Company with Mose Smith’s acquisition of the Cadillac point. In 1959 Mose’s son, John M. Smith, began working as a salesman for the family business. By 1963, the business had outgrown its downtown location and moved to 1215 Highway 71 South (otherwise known as Chevyland on the Curve), where it is still located today. Mose and his son, John, continued to work together until Mose’s passing in 1983.
John M. Smith took over his father’s role as the dealer owner/operator, and under his direction, the physical dealership has grown from four acres to thirteen acres and includes 80 employees. John’s son, John M. Smith, Jr., joined the family business in January 2002, and succeeded his father as owner/operator in 2003. The fourth generation of Smiths, John M. Smith III (15 months old), is already showing a keen interest in cars!
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5210 Grand Ave. • P.O. Box 3649
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