" It could serve as a case study for the American dream. "

A CENTURY OF INNOVATION AND PROGRESS

From a commitment to innovation and responsive management, a family enterprise that began over a century ago as a timber, grocery and dry goods firm has evolved into a thriving, multi-faceted operation which continues to pioneer new opportunity for technological advancement and economic prosperity into the new millennium.

ORIGINS

On April 25, 1890, a father wrote a letter to his son in Wichita, Kansas, in which he encouraged him to sell out his holdings in Kansas and come south to Lake Charles, Louisiana, where he had visions of great opportunities ahead! The letter advised that proceeds from the sale of the son's holdings could be used to book a railroad boxcar from Wichita to Lake Charles. In this boxcar, the family's belongings and livestock could be transported, in addition to sufficient grain (including corn, oats and other grain products) from grain-cheap Kansas, which upon arrival in Louisiana could be sold for enough profit to pay the freight and also leave a stake to carry him through his first winter in the South. These suggestions from Reverend Cyrus Armstrong King to his son, George M. King, planted the idea which resulted in the move of two families from Kansas to Louisiana at the turn of the century, and thus created the business dynasty now operating in its fifth generation.


Reverend King also told his son, George, to advise his friend Willis Weber, to sell his horses and bring mules, because conditions in the Louisiana area were hard on stock, and mules would do much better. He expressed this additional thought: "One thing more, we are sure to have deep water, and that makes Lake Charles the future great city of the Southwest." George M. King and Willis P. Weber followed Reverend King's advice, and came to Lake Charles, Louisiana, with their belongings, livestock and grain in that railroad boxcar, and after their arrival, they traded the drain in the Louisiana bayous at enough profit to pay their passage.

Then they worked at various occupations, including farming in the Fenton area, setting type for the local newspaper, and clerking in local dry goods stores until that had saved enough capital to form the Palace Grocery Store as a partnership in 1895. They operated this store on Ryan Street in Lake Charles for many years.

As an outgrowth of this business, Willis Weber and George M. King joined with D. A. Kelly to organize Kelly, Weber and Company, a wholesale grocery and dry goods firm, which they ran actively until their entry into the lumber business in 1906. Joseph Green Powell was a pioneer lumberman who operated a sawmill in Lake Charles along the Calcasieu River. He had put together substantial land holdings to provide timber for his mill, but by 1906, he was ready to retire from the lumber business.

On June 28, 1906, Mr. Weber, Mr. King and Mr. Kelly acquired all the land, sawmills, mules, oxen teams, locomotives and other paraphernalia necessary to operate a sawmill in the thriving lumber industry in Southwest Louisiana, and Powell Lumber Company was formed.

THE PRESENT

The Powell Group is presently comprised of a number of related companies that work in a coordinated effort to maximize their diverse and ever-growing achievements.

The vision of The Powell Group has evolved to address global concerns and create new opportunities.


Rather than reacting to new challenges as they present themselves, the companies of The Powell Group have a reputation for always staying ahead of the curve, in an aggressive, creative and proactive manner.

Over the last 100 years, The Powell Group has diversified its operations into rice farming and milling, timber, oil & gas exploration, land development, construction, commercial property management, radio broadcasting and electrical power generation, with several hundred employees in four states and significant activities overseas.