Texco Coffee

Texco was a Morrison Coffee Company brand that Hoffmann-Hayman acquired in the February 1917 Morrison purchase and continued to pack for at least 25 years. The 28 January 1917 San Antonio Express acquisition announcement names Texco explicitly among the five Morrison brands H&H committed to continue packing (“‘WESCO,’ ‘MISA,’ ‘BRONCHO,’ ‘TEXCO’ and ‘JUANITA’”). Three months later, the 29 April 1917 Express-News Sunday feature “That Morning’s Cup of Coffee” lists Texco as one of just four “popular brands” of the consolidated firm — “H & H,” “Wesco,” “Misa” and “Texco” — a selective shortlist that puts Texco in the early-H&H flagship tier. The brand persists through the 19 August 1917 wholesale roster, the 19 October 1917 San Antonio Light Liberty Loan sponsor cell (“H. & H. Blend—Wesco—Texco”), the 1923 San Antonio Light products grid, the 28 November 1926 Light “Largest Coffee Plant” feature, and into the WWII era — Texco still appears as a documented package line on the typewritten 2 March 1942 H&H wholesale package-coffee price sheet alongside H and H, Texas Girl, San Antonio, Anita, Big Value, and Master Chef.

The collection still lacks a documented physical pack. The earliest illustrated Texco packaging on the site is in the 13 December 1914 Express-News Morrison clip (page 44): ink drawings of Morrison cans and sacks, including Texco beside Wesco and Misa. The 1923 San Antonio Light products display adds a cropped panel where Texco appears as its own illustrated pack beside Spoon, Broncho, Blend, and the rest.

Origin — Morrison Coffee Company brand, named in the Jan 1917 acquisition

Texco originated as a Morrison Coffee Company brand. The Morrison-era pricing columns of 1912 and 1915 in the Express-News sugar-and-coffee market lines do not name Texco — the earliest documented appearance is the December 1914 Morrison page-44 display with ink drawings. By the 28 January 1917 San Antonio Express Hoffmann-Hayman acquisition announcement, Texco is explicitly named in the five-brand list H&H committed to continue packing after the 1 February 1917 effective date. Texco is one of the four brands (with Wesco, Broncho, and Juanita) where the Morrison-to-H&H transfer is documented in the primary source, not just inferred from later rosters.

April 1917 — Texco in the first post-acquisition flagship list

Three months after the Morrison acquisition, the 29 April 1917 Express-News Sunday feature “That Morning’s Cup of Coffee“ profiles Hoffmann-Hayman in some detail. The piece names just four “popular brands”:

Its popular brands, “H & H,” “Wesco,” “Misa” and “Texco” are ready sellers in Southwest Texas.

Notably the article omits Broncho and Juanita (both in the formal Jan 1917 acquired-brand list) and gives Texco coequal billing with the firm’s H&H house mark, Wesco, and Misa. This makes Texco a documented early-H&H flagship, not just a back-catalog Morrison line carried under sufferance. The same article supplies the company’s February 1912 founding date, $100,000 capital, $120,000 average annual gross, a $20,000 Fort Sam Houston wartime order, and the sales territory (the “S. A.” interurban; the I. & G. N. from San Antonio to Laredo; Southern Pacific west to Del Rio; the Corpus Christi–Brownsville country) — context that situates Texco as a Southwest Texas regional brand.

1917–1926 — Liberty Loan, wholesale, and roster appearances

The 19 August 1917 San Antonio Express wholesale roster lists Texco alongside Wesco, H. & H., Double H, Border, Broncho, Juanita, Big Dime, and Fancy Peaberry — at the consolidated 307 North Medina plant. Specifically: “Texco and Double H Brands in 1-lb. packages” — placing Texco in the one-pound retail format. The 19 October 1917 San Antonio Light Liberty Loan sponsor page narrows the H&H cell to just three names — “H. & H. Blend—Wesco—Texco” — confirming the April 1917 article’s flagship-tier framing in a paid wartime civic placement. The 26 August 1923 San Antonio Light products grid includes an illustrated Texco pack panel; the 28 November 1926 Light “Largest Coffee Plant” feature lists TEXCO in the high-grade roster.

1942 — Texco still on the wholesale price sheet

The typewritten 2 March 1942 H&H wholesale package-coffee price sheet (institutional reference, project photograph 3 July 2015) names TEXCO and BIG VALUE in the package coffee section, alongside H AND H Coffee, SAN ANTONIO Coffee (cup-and-saucer premium), TEXAS GIRL Coffee, ANITA Coffee, and CAFE COFFEES (M. Chef Blends A and B). This extends Texco’s documented run to at least 25 years under H&H — surviving from the Morrison acquisition through the Great Depression and into the WWII rationing window. No retail pack from this period has surfaced in the collection; the price sheet is currently the only documentary evidence Texco was still actively packed in 1942.

Documented absence after 1942 — Morrison-five sole survivor

Texco survives in the documentary record to March 1942 but is absent from later H&H sources catalogued on the site:

  • 1957 San Antonio Express Master Chef Instant ad — no Texco.
  • 1959 Valley Morning Star Master Chef trade item — no Texco.
  • 1960 H&H corporate roster (Master Chef · Sam Houston · Texas Girl · H&H Blend) — no Texco.
  • 1964 Fredericksburg Standard Master Chef Instant ad — no Texco.

The exit window is March 1942 → 1960. Of the five Morrison brands named in the 28 Jan 1917 acquisition notice (Wesco · Misa · Broncho · Texco · Juanita), Texco was the only one to reach the 1942 wholesale sheets — yet none of the five reached the postwar Master Chef–centred portfolio. Texco is the cohort’s terminal survivor: its absence in 1960 marks the close of the Morrison line in H&H packaging.

See Hoffmann-Hayman Coffee Company for brand-attrition context and the 1942 H&H wholesale price sheets for the survival anchor.

Products

  1. Texco Coffee — one-pound package (per the 19 Aug 1917 wholesale roster: “Texco and Double H Brands in 1-lb. packages”)
  2. Texco Coffee — package retail format (1942 price sheet; specific can or bag size not transcribed)

Packaging

No museum specimen is catalogued yet. The 1914 scan shows Texco in a Morrison-era ink rendering with sibling brands; the 1923 crop isolates Texco trade dress from a later Hoffmann-Hayman housewife spread.

1914 Express-News clip — Texco pack (ink drawing) in Morrison Coffee product grouping with Wesco and Misa

Texco brand panel from the 26 Aug 1923 San Antonio Light products ad

Advertising

  1. Morrison Coffee — 13 Dec 1914 — ink drawings of Texco, Wesco, Misa, and related packs.
  2. H&H acquires Morrison — 28 Jan 1917 — Texco named in the formal continued-brands list.
  3. “That Morning’s Cup of Coffee” — 29 Apr 1917 — Texco listed as an H&H flagship beside H&H, Wesco, and Misa.
  4. 19 Aug 1917 wholesale roster — Texco and Double H in 1-lb. packages.
  5. 19 Oct 1917 Liberty Loan sponsor cell — “H. & H. Blend—Wesco—Texco.”
  6. 1923 San Antonio Light — full page 66 layout and research hooks: H and H products ad.
  7. Branding crop — standalone panel: Texco — products ad crop.
  8. 28 Nov 1926 Light “Largest Coffee Plant” — TEXCO named in the H&H roster.

Additional wordmarks and packs appear under Branding in Newspapers.

Collection posts

Reference photography

No Texco tin is in Our Collection yet; 1914 halftone art and related Morrison references sit above under Packaging. The 2 March 1942 H&H package-coffee wholesale price sheet documents Texco as a still-active package line in the WWII era (institutional reference, project photograph 3 July 2015) — indexed in Reference.

Newspaper & period branding

The 1923 San Antonio Light Texco panel is embedded under Packaging (same page 66 grid as Spoon, Border, H and H Blend — full page).

Wanted

Texco is flagged on Wanted until actual tins, bags, or cartons (or trustworthy dealer photographs) can be tied to the label. Particularly sought:

  1. Any Morrison-era Texco can (pre-Feb 1917) — would document Morrison trade dress directly.
  2. Any Hoffmann-Hayman-era Texco package — to bracket the 1917–1942 documented run.
  3. 1930s–1940s Texco price-card or retailer flyer evidence — to fill the 1926→1942 gap on the wholesale price sheet.

Leads and scans are welcome via contact.