International-Great Northern Railroad (I. & G. N.)

Texas railroad connecting San Antonio to Austin, Laredo, and St. Louis. Began San Antonio service in 1881. For H&H, the I. & G. N. is the documented distribution corridor from San Antonio south to the Laredo border crossing — the primary rail route for H&H’s South Texas and border-trade coffee sales from at least 1913 through 1917.

H&H connection

Physical proximity — the I. & G. N. Passenger Depot and 307 North Medina. H&H’s 1913 move to the Caffarelli building was explicitly positioned relative to the I. & G. N. depot. The August 10, 1913 San Antonio Express trade announcement describes the new H&H plant as in “the 300 block on North Medina St., just north of the I. & G. N. Passenger Depot” and “next door to Caffarelli Brothers.” The wholesale grocery district on North Medina Street was located adjacent to the depot because inbound freight and outbound shipments both staged there. H&H’s move to Medina Street placed it at the hub of the freight-and-distribution network it used to supply South Texas.

Distribution route — San Antonio to Laredo (1917 documentation). The April 1917 San Antonio Express-News feature documents H&H’s full distribution territory: “the ‘S. A.’ [interurban] from end to end, on the I. & G. N. from San Antonio to Laredo, on the Southern Pacific west to Del Rio and throughout the Corpus Christi and Brownsville country.” The I. & G. N. to Laredo route is one of four named distribution corridors — alongside the SA interurban (local), Southern Pacific (west Texas), and the Corpus Christi–Brownsville territory.

Dedicated salesman for the Laredo line. After the 1917 Morrison acquisition, H&H explicitly assigned the I. & G. N.–Laredo territory to M. R. Perron (who also covered Brownsville–Kingsville–Corpus Christi). The dedicated territory assignment confirms the Laredo line was a significant enough book of business to warrant a full-time salesman — distinct from Paul Rochs’s SA-centric route.

Railroad context

The International-Great Northern Railroad began SA service in 1881 (per Tim Draves’s Rail to Bexar StoryMap), connecting the city to Austin, St. Louis, and Laredo. Unlike the GH&SA (an SP subsidiary), the I. & G. N. was part of the Missouri Pacific system — a separate corporate family serving the north–south axis through Texas. The Laredo terminus made it the natural connection for goods moving toward or through the Mexican border.

The I. & G. N. was eventually absorbed into the Missouri Pacific’s Texas and Pacific network and later into Union Pacific. Its San Antonio operations and the passenger depot on the south end of the Medina Street corridor were central to the city’s freight economy through the early 20th century.

Open questions

• Precise location and surviving records for the I. & G. N. Passenger Depot (the anchor landmark for the 307 N. Medina block)
• Whether H&H’s Laredo distribution extended into Mexico proper, or terminated at the border with a Mexican distributor
• Whether M. R. Perron (the I. & G. N.–Laredo salesman) appears in any other H&H documentation
• When H&H’s active use of the I. & G. N. corridor ended — the railroad remains the documented route through 1917; the transition to truck delivery (1930s–1940s highway era) would have displaced it

See also

• GH&SA Railroad — the other SA rail carrier; SP subsidiary; GH&SA spur served 601 Delaware
• Southern Pacific Railroad — the western distribution route (Del Rio corridor)
• 307 North Medina Street — H&H plant “just north of the I. & G. N. Passenger Depot” (1913)
• H&H and the Tejano Market — the I. & G. N.–Laredo corridor serves the same South Texas territory
• Morrison Coffee Company — M. R. Perron covered the I. & G. N.–Laredo route after the 1917 acquisition