That Building With The Tall Red Chimney Just Off The Square

Part II of II

In November of 1949, W. A. Darter retired from the business and turned over all its operations to his son-in-law, and Darter & Looney became Looney & Company. As a means of spurring his new venture, Looney held a grand opening on Thursday, February 16, 1950 at the new “Base of Operations” where he and the broader IH company hosted in excess of 3,000 visitors with “unexcelled hospitality” which included speeches, refreshments, product demonstrations, and door prizes, all culminating in a dance in the service bay, accompanied by the music of a Mexican mariachi band, as well as Ray Baca’s orchestra. Mr. Looney continued selling and servicing IH products and Pontiac automobiles until April of 1951, when he turned over the businesses to Harry Vogt who owned Vogt & Company, a former livery and stable business started by his father, Frederick “Fritz” Vogt. Vogt leased the premises from Looney until 1953. In January of 1953, the sales and service business was sold to Lester and Mary Alice von Rosenberg and his sister and brother-in-law, Berger Eugene (B.E.) and Lois (von Rosenberg) Todd. Looney had transferred the land underlying the businesses to the von Rosenberg and Todd couples via a sale on July 8, 1952 just the year before. The new business was called Rosenberg-Todd, Incorporated, and just like Darter & Looney and Vogt & Company before them, they too sold and serviced IH and Pontiac products. Rosenberg-Todd continued to serve the La Grange, Schulenburg and Giddings markets for IH and Pontiac products through the remainder of the 1950s, and in 1962, it added Oldsmobile automobiles to its line-up, debuting the 1962 Oldsmobile 98 Holiday Coupe and Sedan.

The businesses flourished in the 1950s and 1960s through the local sales efforts of Mr. Todd and his staff, examples of which were Mr. Todd’s support for the Fayette County Fair’s livestock shows, when he purchased the 1956 Reserve Champion ewe and the 1965 Grand Champion Hereford. The dealership was named the regional Pontiac sales winner in 1967. In addition to the sales side of the business, service was an integral factor in the dealership’s success, as was the service station which continued to be operated under the Humble Oil franchise until its closure in the early 1970s.

Numerous family members were involved in the Rosenberg-Todd business in addition to Mr. Todd, who served as President and General Manager, and his wife, Lois (von Rosenberg) Todd, who acted as bookkeeper, including Mrs. Todd’s younger brother, Albert Lee “A. L.” von Rosenberg, who was bookkeeper before her, as well as Mrs. Lucille (Freytag) von Rosenberg, who was Mr. Todd’s secretary for many years.

In 1966, Lester and Mary Alice von Rosenberg decided to pursue a different path, so they sold their interest in the business to Mr. and Mrs. Todd. Shortly thereafter, Mrs. Todd passed away unexpectedly, leaving Mr. Todd to lead the business on his own. His eldest daughter, Terrye Jean Todd, who had previously married Harvey Bohot, took Mrs. Todd’s place in the business as bookkeeper, and her husband Harvey became a partial owner and Assistant Manager. It was this addition to the management and ownership team which was the impetus in 1970 to change the name of the business from the longstanding name, Rosenberg-Todd, to the name Bohot-Todd, which was well known in Fayette County, and beyond, during the 1970s and 1980s.

After almost four decades in the car and tractor sales and service business, B. E. Todd decided it was time to retire. The Oldsmobile and Pontiac dealership business was sold in the late 1980s to the Brasher family who was operating the local Chevrolet dealership in La Grange and a comparable dealership in Weimar in Colorado County at that time. The International Harvester part of the business had been previously sold around 1978 to Eugene Niemeyer, who ran the IH business out of a new purpose built metal structure behind the Prototype building until it became non-operating.

Following the sale of the business, the Todd family retained the block 15 where the original businesses and buildings were located, bound by Travis, Water, Crockett and Brown Streets, and they currently lease the historic 1948 IH Prototype building through its Todd Ventures, Ltd. commercial real estate business that Rebeca Todd Koenig, a Todd family daughter, has managed since 2004.

The IH Prototype building, like many structures west of Water Street in La Grange, was severely damaged in August 2017 from over eight feet of flooding due to the rains of Hurricane Harvey which caused the Colorado River at La Grange to rise to in excess of 54 feet. Despite this damage and setback, the Todd family, through the hard work and assistance of Chris Janca and his crew, repaired and restored the building to its preflood state, and new businesses are now able to use and enjoy the historic mid-century edifice whose iconic red brick chimney signals to everyone coming across the Colorado River bridge into La Grange that they have arrived.

Sources:

Ancestry.com, Darter and Looney Family Trees; Vogt and Koehler Family Trees; Jon Todd Family Tree

Email correspondence with John Guy Lonney, MD, son of Pete Looney, grandson of W. A. Darter

Interview with Rebeca Todd Koenig, daughter of B. E. Todd

International Harvester World Magazine, March, 1948 – The Red Pylon, Symbol of Postwar Progress

Miscellaneous issues of The Fayette County Record and La Grange Journal