G. P. Menger Family Narrative — "Great Oaks from Little Acorns Grow"

A first-person written account of the Hoffmann-Hayman Coffee Company's history, composed by Gustav P. ("Gus") Menger for his family. ACQUIRED 19 June 2026 — long the single most important unacquired primary source in the KB, it is now scanned, transcribed, and ingested. It is a six-page typescript, signed Gus P. Menger, wrapped in a hand-lettered cover sheet reading "History of H and H Coffee Co." The figures run forward to 1972 ("…for sale by end of 1972"), dating composition to c.1971–72.

Gus Menger (Sept 20, 1889 – Aug 5, 1974) was secretary from the 1912 incorporation, president 1920–1962, and — by his own account — the man who arranged the 1921 Hayman buyout and the 1933 move to 601 Delaware. He was involved in every major development across five decades, which makes this the closest thing the KB has to an insider corporate autobiography of the firm.

Consent / sensitivity. This is a Draves family document (living heirs). The page images are published as reference-gallery artifacts with the Draves' consent; the underlying transcription source remains publish: false.

The document, page by page

The cleaned scans are registered as reference-gallery artifacts (documented but not owned):

Page	Artifact	Content
wrapper	HH-REF-1972-0001	Hand-lettered cover, "History of H and H Coffee Co."
p.1	HH-REF-1972-0002	Title + the $400-acorn frame; William R. Hoffmann biography; the founding
p.2	HH-REF-1972-0003	First officers; the Feb 1921 Hayman buyout; the 1933 Delaware plant (architect George W. Mitchell); the Warehouse Co.; the Dec 2, 1962 Continental sale
p.3	HH-REF-1972-0004	1919–20 profits; the 1920 green-coffee price crash Gus steered through; the WWII "Cafe Mix" / "War Roast" substitute
p.4	HH-REF-1972-0005	The $10-junkyard-drum caramel substitute; the 1943 vacuum canning line; the minute books at 1919 Kenilworth; leadership succession
p.5	HH-REF-1972-0006	The address history, 1904 → 1933
p.6	HH-REF-1972-0007	The "Estimated Gain or Profit" table; the $400 → ~$3,180,000 total

The narrative, synthesized

Founding (p.1). William R. Hoffmann (b. "Setting," Germany, Oct 25, 1878 – d. Jan 10, 1912) came to San Antonio via New Braunfels as a grocery clerk and in 1904 entered the retail roasted-coffee trade on $400 borrowed from the Louis Spahn family, who ran a boarding house and grocery on E. Commerce St. His first roaster was a hand-turned tinsmith cylinder over a charcoal furnace; he graduated to a 150-lb Jabez Burns bricked-in roaster. He married Minnie Menger (daughter of Dr. Rudolph Menger), whom he met at a dance in the Turner Hall, and died at 34, leaving the business to his widow.

Incorporation & the Hayman partnership (p.1–p.2). On the advice of Senator Harry Hertzberg and her brother Gus, Mrs. Hoffmann merged her interest with W. E. Hayman's Merchants Coffee Company to form Hoffmann-Hayman (paid-in capital $20,000). Officers: Hayman president, Mrs. Hoffmann vice-president, Gus P. Menger secretary at $90/month — he had joined at 23 while private secretary to W. B. Tuttle of City Public Service.

The buyout & the brothers (p.2–p.3). Gus's account ties Hayman's exit to the Jan 20, 1920 stockholders' meeting (Hayman's resolution and resignation) but dates the brothers' purchase of his 50% (~$23,000) to February 1921 — the six Menger brothers (Gus, Edward, August, Louis, Rudolph, Theodore) bought him out; Minnie Hoffmann kept her 50%.

Crisis management (p.3–p.4). Gus frames himself as the firm's survivor-in-chief: he navigated the 1920 coffee-price collapse by staying "a few cents per pound under all companies," and during WWII, when Brazilian shipping was suspended and the War Production Board cut deliveries, he sold a roasted wheat-and-chicory substitute as "Cafe Mix" / "War Roast" and a caramel color made in a $10 junkyard laundry drum — ~500,000 lbs at 10¢/lb extra profit. The 1943 vacuum canning line dates here.

The plant & the records (p.2, p.4, p.5). The 1933 move to 601 Delaware (Noonan & Co. plans; George W. Mitchell bid $25,559.06) followed a chain of premises — Market St. shed (1904) → 1200 W. Commerce (1912) → Cafferelli Building, N. Medina (1913) → 331 Burnett St. (~1923). Gus notes the company minute books (1912 on) survive in a fireproof vault at his home, 1919 Kenilworth.

The accounting (p.6). The closing table gives the document its title: the $400 acorn, across four eras (Market St. $40k; W. Commerce/Medina $20k; 331 Burnett $31k; 601 Delaware $1.3M), plus the Dec 1962 Continental sale ($400k cash + $270k retained) and a 10-year building lease, totals ~$3,180,000.

What it confirms, corrects, and adds

Confirms — Nancy's May 2026 live reading is fully borne out: the Great Oaks title; 1904 / $400 / Louis Spahn; the Jabez Burns 150-lb roaster; 601 Delaware and the Warehouse Co. in 1933; Dr. Schlosser's dissent ("not the time to expand… in the depths of a depression"); the $60,390.24 improvement total (p.2); the Dec 2, 1962 Continental sale.

Adds (new to the KB) — the $400 Louis Spahn loan as seed capital; the George W. Mitchell $25,559.06 construction bid; the 1943 date for vacuum canning; the "Cafe Mix" / "War Roast" wartime brands; and the standing lead that the H&H minute books may still exist at 1919 Kenilworth.

Corrects / to reconcile (see TODO-51) —

W. R. Hoffmann's birth: Great Oaks says Oct 25, 1878 (KB prior ~1879).
Hayman buyout: Great Oaks dates the brothers' purchase to Feb 1921; the KB currently says Jan 1920. (The document itself is internally layered: Hayman resigned at the Jan 1920 meeting, p.3; the brothers bought in Feb 1921, p.2 — possibly a staged transaction.)
Continental sale: Gus says Dec 2, 1962; the Texas SOS filing is Dec 11, 1962 (agreement vs. filing date).

Provenance note. Gus wrote this c.1972 as family memoir, ~50 years after the founding events — authoritative as an insider account but a recollection, not a contemporaneous record. Where it conflicts with period documents (filings, dated clippings), treat those as the tiebreaker and cite Great Oaks for intent and color.

Acquisition story

Dec 15, 2014 — Nancy Draves's letter first flagged it: "He did write an account for the family about those early years in coffee… your site prompted me to re-read their story."
2015 — Nancy's BKB notes paraphrase Gus's Dec 1962 Continental-acquisition terms (now confirmed as p.2/p.6 of this same document, not a separate memo).
28 May 2026 — Nancy read substantial passages aloud at her home; the curator confirmed the title and key facts on tape.
19 June 2026 — the document was scanned (CZUR) at the Draves session, then transcribed.
20 June 2026 — cleaned scans ingested as artifacts HH-REF-1972-0001…0007 with the Draves' consent; this page synthesized.

Open questions