Higginbotham Bros. and Company

By Frank Chamberlain

The Higginbotham Bros. stores are among the oldest businesses in the area. These retail stores offer a wide variety of goods and services in several locations in central Texas. Two brothers from Mississippi named R.W. and J.M. Higginbotham founded these stores, which eventually grew into a sizable corporate chain. The original store was built in De Leon in 1881, followed later that year by the opening of the Dublin branch. The store in De Leon was called Higginbotham & Co., while the Dublin shop was called Higginbotham & Son. In 1891, the family opened a store in Stephenville, making it one of the oldest businesses in that community as well. These wholesale and retail stores sold “goods, wares, and merchandise of any description” for most of the entire twentieth century.