Events
A chronological index of dated events tied to the Hoffmann-Hayman Coffee Company, the Menger and Hoffmann families, and the suppliers, brokers, and rival firms that shape the company’s story. The list covers births, deaths, marriages, plant milestones, product launches, sales, and closures — anything with an anchor date and a primary source.
This index is built from _data/events.yml, which is regenerated on every Jekyll build from the knowledge-base/events/ source by scripts/events_build_jekyll_data.exs. To add an event, add a page under knowledge-base/events/.
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1880 July 4 — Birth of Wilhelmina Menger (Schlosser)
Wilhelmina “Minnie” Menger—later Mrs. William R. Hoffmann and Mrs. William J. Schlosser—is born in San Antonio; daughter of Dr. Rudolph Menger and Catherine Menger. -
1889 September 20 — Birth of Gustav Peter Menger
Future Hoffmann-Hayman president Gustav P. (“Gus”) Menger is born in San Antonio—son of Dr. Rudolph Menger and Catherine Menger. -
1899 — Company founded
William R. Hoffmann establishes a coffee business in San Antonio—the firm that later grows into Hoffmann-Hayman. -
1909 June 1 — William R. Hoffmann marries Wilhelmina Menger
At the Mengers’ East Commerce Street home; society coverage in the Express-News (6 June) dates the wedding to 1 June 1909, and the Light (2 June) still lists the couple in its marriage-license roster—contemporary print anchors for the marriage summarized on People — William R. Hoffmann and Wilhelmina Menger Hoffmann. -
1911 January 15 — Death of William R. Hoffmann Jr.
William R. Hoffmann Jr. is born 11 December 1910 and buried 15 January 1911, less than a month old. -
1912 January 10 — Death of William Robert Hoffmann
Born in Germany on 25 October 1878, Hoffmann dies in San Antonio at age 33 (contemporaneous San Antonio Light and Express-News notices, January 1912). -
1912 February 5 — Hoffmann–Hayman Coffee Company chartered
The Express reports from Austin the filing of a Texas charter for The Hoffmann-Hayman Coffee Company of San Antonio—capital stock $20,000 (three-fourths paid in), purpose general merchandising, incorporators W. E. Hayman, Mrs. William R. Hoffmann (Minnie), and Gus P. Menger, with J. C. Neeley on the first-year board; fifty-year term. Dateline 5 February 1912; Express-News reprint 6 February. -
1912 October 4 — Hoffmann merges with Merchants Coffee (Hayman)
William R. Hoffmann Coffee merges with Merchants Coffee, owned by W. E. Hayman, forming the Hoffmann-Hayman Coffee Company. Hayman becomes president; Mrs. Hoffmann (Minnie Menger) is vice president; her brother Gus P. Menger serves as secretary. -
1912 November 15 — Hoffmann-Hayman moves to Caffarelli building
The company leaves a back room on West Commerce for the Caffarelli wholesale grocery building at Medina and Travis (307 N. Medina). Alfred Giles designed the structure for Caffarelli Bros. -
1914 November — Large Fort Sam Houston coffee order (Morrison)
The trade press reports what it calls the largest San Antonio coffee order to date for Fort Sam Houston—a carload in bulk from Morrison Coffee Co., hauled to the post by eight two-horse wagons. -
1917 — Texas highway department era begins
The state reorganizes road administration into a modern highway department (today’s TxDOT). San Antonio becomes headquarters of one of the first six divisions—useful context for how rail and then roads shaped distribution. -
1917 March — Hoffmann-Hayman acquires Morrison Coffee Co.
Hoffmann-Hayman buys Morrison Coffee and consolidates operations at 307 N. Medina—the Caffarelli / Medina–Travis quarters the firm already occupies. -
1920 January — Hayman sells out to the Mengers
W. E. Hayman sells his interest to the Menger brothers. G. P. Menger becomes president; R. W. Menger, secretary–treasurer; Mrs. William J. Schlosser (Minnie Menger Hoffmann) remains vice president. -
1922 — Hoffmann-Hayman on Burnett Street
A 1932 article on the new Delaware Street plant notes the company had already been at 331 Burnett Street for about ten years—so this entry marks that earlier plant generation, not the 1932 build. -
1922 March — Three Rivers Glass Company incorporates
The Three Rivers Glass Company is chartered in Texas in early March 1922, capitalized at $50,000. At a directors’ meeting on Friday 17 March 1922, officers are elected for the first year: James Kapp as president, A. H. Morton as vice president, Charles R. Tips as secretary–treasurer, and H. S. Warrick as general manager (Warrick is in St. Louis at the time arranging machinery purchase). Other directors: Adolph Wagner, William L. Stiles, D. J. Woodward (all of San Antonio), and H. T. Harber (of Three Rivers). Construction of the factory at Three Rivers is ordered to start immediately, targeting operation within 60 days. Plant will use Three Rivers natural gas for fuel; glass sand from local pits; capacity 150 gross of bottles daily; first products soda-water bottles and milk bottles; target market Texas and Mexican trade. -
1922 April 18 — H and H Blend — whole bean, medium ground, and pulverized in three container sizes
The San Antonio Evening News advertises H and H Blend packed whole bean, medium ground, and pulverized, in ½ pound, 1 pound, and 3 pound containers—the grind and size matrix for the house blend in local press the same decade as the paper-label tins in the collection. Blog note with scan pointer. -
1922 October 24 — U.S. Patent 160,778 to H & H
The company receives U.S. Patent No. 160,778. -
1928 August 31 — “Fires Damage Home and Coffee Plant” — slight damage at 331 Burnet
The San Antonio Light reports two small fires from the previous evening: slight damage at the Hoffman-Hayman Coffee Company, 331 Burnet Street, and a separate residential fire elsewhere. It is a dated, primary mention of the Burnet plant in routine fire news—useful context for the physical plant in the late 1920s. Full clip, transcription, and PDF on the site. -
1929 October 29 — Wall Street crash (start of the Great Depression)
Panic selling on the New York exchanges marks the beginning of the Great Depression—national context for every consumer business in the early 1930s. -
1930 — Warehouse fire — Burnet plant
Informal accounts of a serious warehouse fire in the early 1930s point to the 331 Burnet Street roasting plant—not the later Delaware Street factory. Primary coverage of fire at that address includes the 31 August 1928 San Antonio Light item (slight damage). A separate dated clipping for a larger blaze at Burnet, if distinct, is still worth hunting in fire news and trade press. -
1932 — Delaware Street factory built
A purpose-built concrete plant rises at 601 Delaware Street, San Antonio, laid out for rail service—summarized here from 1932 opening coverage and related entries; a single “construction-only” cite is still to be split out from plant-opening clippings. -
1932 December 21, Wednesday — Open house at the new roasting plant
The company welcomes the public to the new Delaware Street roastery with refreshments, music, and an evening WOAI radio broadcast starting at 8 p.m. Newspaper promotion bills it as a showplace Southwest coffee plant. -
1932 June 10 — Crystalvac jar and vacuum pack in the press
The San Antonio Register reports on Hoffmann-Hayman’s new Crystalvac jar and vacuum-packing process—part of the firm’s shift from tin to glass for retail coffee. -
1932 July 1 — Railroad spur agreement (GH&SA / Texas & New Orleans)
Hoffmann-Hayman signs to use trackage built and maintained by the Galveston, Harrisburg and San Antonio Railway (leased to the Texas and New Orleans Railroad) to serve the new plant. -
1933 November 27 — Dutch Lunch Mustard added to spice line
Newspaper advertising announces Dutch Lunch Mustard as a new Hoffmann-Hayman spice item—evidence of how far beyond coffee the “H & H” name reached in the 1930s. -
1934 September 10 — Sam Houston, H & H, and Texas Girl jars in Southwest markets
A San Antonio Express piece describes strong demand for Sam Houston, H & H, and Texas Girl Crystalvac jars; housewives reuse the wide-mouth jars for canning, and the glass fits standard Kerr and Mason-Ball closures. -
1936 December — Ball acquires Three Rivers Glass Co.
On 5 December 1936, San Antonio attorney William C. Church announces — after a conference with L. L. Bracken, representative of the George A. Ball Manufacturing Company of Muncie, Indiana — that the Three Rivers Glass plant has been purchased out of receivership for $130,000 and reorganized under the new name “Ball Glass corporation.” The plant had been in the hands of receivers since 1932; following a brief shutdown for inventory, renewed operations are projected within days. Production target: upwards of $500,000/yr in glassware for liquid-foodstuffs distributors across Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana; “the only glass manufacturing plant in South Texas.” -
1937 January — Three Rivers Glass Co. formally dissolves
In January 1937, the Three Rivers Glass Company (the Texas corporation) is formally dissolved through insolvency proceedings — nine years before former shareholders Charles R. Tips, W. L. Moody III, and Harry R. Rogers will file the 1946 $1,350,000 anti-trust suit against Hartford-Empire, Ball Bros., and Owens-Illinois alleging the dissolution was caused by the patent-pool’s unlawful acts. -
1938 December — Hartford-Empire testimony names Three Rivers Glass in U.S. Senate monopoly probe
On 12 December 1938, the U.S. Senate Temporary National Economic Committee (TNEC, the “monopoly committee,” chaired by Senator Joseph C. O’Mahoney) hears full-day testimony from F. G. Smith, president of Hartford-Empire Co. of Hartford, Connecticut. Smith — questioned by Hugh Cox of the U.S. Department of Justice — defends Hartford-Empire’s ownership of the patents on the machinery by which glass containers can be produced most economically, its practice of leasing the machinery on a royalty basis to individual manufacturers, and its stipulation of what type of container each licensee may produce and, in some cases, how many. Hartford-Empire’s licensing terms also reserved the right to decide whether or not a new manufacturer is to be admitted to the business. -
1939 September 1 — World War II begins in Europe
Germany invades Poland; Britain and France declare war. Global mobilization, rationing, and labor shortages later touch every food packager, including firms like Hoffmann-Hayman, even before U.S. entry. -
1941 — Mi Tierra opens in Market Square
Pedro Cortez buys the Toyo Café in Market Square and renames it Mi Tierra—San Antonio dining context for the same decades H & H still roasts nearby. -
1946 January — Tips, Moody, Rogers v. Hartford-Empire, Ball, Owens-Illinois ($1.35M anti-trust suit)
On Thursday, 3 January 1946, three San Antonio men — Charles R. Tips, W. L. Moody III, and Harry R. Rogers — file suit with the U.S. District Clerk (San Antonio) seeking $1,350,000 in actual damages, to be trebled (~$4,050,000 with treble damages), against three out-of-state glass manufacturers: -
1947 November — Three Rivers anti-trust suit dismissed in Texas, refiled in Indiana
On Saturday, 1 November 1947, Federal Judge Ben H. Rice Jr. dismisses the $4,600,000 anti-trust damage suit filed by Three Rivers Glass Co. against Hartford-Empire Co. (Hartford, CT), Ball Brothers Co. (Muncie, IN), and Owens-Illinois Glass Co. (Toledo, OH) in U.S. District Court (San Antonio). The dismissal is at the plaintiff’s own request — Three Rivers, with Charles R. Tips as president, sought the dismissal so the suit could be refiled in U.S. District Court in Indianapolis, Indiana, where it has already been refiled. -
1949 — Second-floor addition, Delaware Street plant
The south-facing second-story windows over Delaware are bricked in; new walls rise above the old parapet, enclosing storage space. Penciled warehouse notes on the interior walls suggest inventory use—details from later building survey and photography on this site. -
1955 — North-end wing at 601 Delaware
A two-story wing is added at the north end of the Delaware Street property, expanding roasting and warehouse capacity. -
1956 April 23 — Death of Minnie (Wilhelmina) Schlosser
Mrs. Wilhelmina (Minnie) Schlosser, née Menger, dies in San Antonio at age 75—long tied to Hoffmann-Hayman as an officer. Burial: Mission Burial Park South, Section 4 (Restland). Trade press also notes her death in 1956. -
1959 June 25 — City contract — coffee for the San Antonio jail
City Council adopts Ordinance 27,684, awarding Hoffmann-Hayman the jail’s coffee supply for 1 August 1959 through 31 July 1960 (recorded in Ordinance Book 1.1, page 245). -
1963 February 21 — Death of Dr. William J. Schlosser
Born 12 August 1875 in Kentucky, Dr. Schlosser dies in San Antonio on 21 February 1963. -
1964 July 12 — Newspaper ad — H & H as a Continental Coffee division
A San Antonio Express advertisement congratulating Santa Rosa Medical Center on choosing H & H Coffee carries a footer line reading “A Division of the Continental Coffee Co.” -
1967 April 3 — Continental Coffee at Hoffmann-Hayman Warehouse Co. (deed record)
Bexar County Clerk records document Continental Coffee operating in connection with the Hoffmann-Hayman Warehouse Company—part of the paper trail as corporate names shift in the 1960s. -
1970 July 11 — Help-wanted ad lists 601 Delaware
A Continental Coffee job notice in the Express and News uses the Delaware Street plant address, tying the firm to the old H & H facility in the early 1970s. -
1972 March 28 — 601 Delaware offered for sale
The San Antonio Express carries a real-estate listing for the Delaware Street property as the company era at that address winds down. -
1972 August 29 — Sale of Hoffmann-Hayman Warehouse Co. (601 Delaware)
President G. P. Menger executes a sale contract with buyer Kenneth L. Wagner, recorded with the Bexar County Clerk. -
1973 May 26 — Texas Historical Marker — Three Rivers Glass Company
The Texas Historical Commission dedicates a marker at the Three Rivers glassworks site, recognizing it as an early Texas glass manufacturer—part of the Crystalvac story that intersects H & H jars. -
1974 August 5 — Death of Gustav Peter Menger
Gustav P. Menger dies in San Antonio at age 84. Burial: Mission Burial Park South, Section 4 (Restland). -
1975 March 6 — 601 Delaware as B&W toy warehouse
Kenneth L. Wagner, president of B&W Service Co., advertises from the address as a toy wholesaler distributing for World Toy House of St. Paul, Minnesota—one post-factory reuse of the plant. -
1996 — Ball Corporation exits glass
Ball Corporation (successor to Ball Brothers) sells its remaining glass interests to Saint-Gobain and pivots toward metal packaging and aerospace—a coda to the Ball era that included Three Rivers Crystalvac production. -
2017 April 28-29 — Three Rivers Glass Show (80th anniversary)
Collectors and historians meet in Three Rivers for a weekend show marking eighty years since the glassworks closed—tables of Crystalvac and other South Texas glass, talks, and a historical-marker walk. Field notes appear on this site.