The day a boy’s dream created 107-year old business
Every generation including “America’s Greatest” of the 1940s, has had its good times, bad times, sad times, evil times and times of political and social upheaval.
Having said this, and despite our common warts, many from the 1950s will argue ours was among the best of times.
This is a story about the Hallmark Card days, when notes of reflection, appreciation and gratitude continue to enter mailboxes after 107 years.
When Ed and I grew up as friends through athletics at Wichita Falls High under the time-honored name of “Coyotes,” we knew the 1950s were special. And, like the old Seals and Crofts song, we also figured “We’d never pass this way again.”
With this common thread, Ed felt I’d appreciate a birthday card his wife Mary received in the mail. It was from one friend of the ‘50s to another. In part it read about the time ...
“When moms called their kids in for supper at dusk . . . when you played hide-and-seek and climbed trees . . . when people said, “Thank You” and “Please” . . . when you flew a kite . . . drank little pints of chocolate milk . . . read and reread stacks of comic books. And if you left your bike on the front lawn at night, it was still there in the morning.
Juvenile delinquency, popping hubcaps, joy riding, lifting Cheerio yo-yos from Kress’ five-and-dime and sharing a Marlboro in the boys’ bathroom in junior high had its day.
It was also a time when imagination and creativity ruled countless hearts.
If you are still a fan of the free enterprise system, the legacy of Hallmark will enlighten you and give you hope for our future.
It is the story of an 18-year-old boy named J.C. (Joyce) Hall. He stepped off a train in Kansas City, Mo., in 1915 with only a few coins rattling in his pocket and two shoeboxes filled with hand-drawn postcards he and his two brothers created.
Hall raised himself from poverty and a lack of formal education to become the architect of industry and live the American dream.
He called on businesses of all kinds to hawk his cards. Five years after establishing a store in Kansas City, fire destroyed Hall’s inventory and he and his brothers went broke. They managed to float a loan to buy an engraving firm. It set the stage for the first original Hallmark card design.
Although the greeting card business is not what it once was, Hallmark still employs roughly 27,000 worldwide and nets $4 billion in consolidated revenue.
For those enchanted by taxpayer freebies, keep in mind Hallmark remains a family-owned company that started more than a century ago with little money, three employees and two shoeboxes of postcards.
Ted “Spud” Buss is a former TRN sports and business editor.
This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: The day a boy’s dream created 107-year old business
