E.M. Scarbrough & Sons

E.M. Scarbrough & Sons, simply called Scarbrough’s by locals, was a department store which dominated shopping in Austin, Texas in the early 20th Century. Housed in the first steel-framed high-rise in Austin, it was also the first retailer to have air conditioning (“manufactured weather”) west of the Mississippi. In an era where goods were bargained, Scarbrough’s was a pioneer in price tagging every item in the store.^{[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]}

Foundation

Founder Emerson Monroe Scarbrough, Sr. (May 19, 1846 – June 21, 1925) was born in White Plains, Alabama into a family with 11 siblings, raised by his widowed mother. After serving in the Confederate Army he moved to Texas, marrying Ada Rucker Ledbetter (1852 – 1892). Together they had 3 sons and 2 daughters.

E.M. Scarbrough started in the retail business at Hale & Evans in Bryan Station. In 1874 he opened a store in Rockdale in partnership with H.P. Hale ( – 1883). The store continued under the name Scarbrough & Hicks when his partner passed away. In 1893 Scarbrough left R.H. Hicks ( – 1912) in charge of the store and moved with his family to Austin, expanding the business to a new location in the Kreisle Building at the 400 block of Congress Avenue.

Scarbrough Building

In 1894 the store relocated to the 500 block, at the southwest corner of Congress and Pecan Street (now 6th Street), becoming the fifth largest retailer in Texas with 110 ft. (34 m) of frontage. Upon purchasing the property in 1905, Scarbrough hired architects Sanguinet & Staats to design a modern structure. When the new building was completed in 1909, it was the tallest in the state, but George W. Littlefield added a ninth story to his new catercorner building to steal the title a year later. In the heart of downtown Austin, both the Scarbrough Building and the Littlefield Building still stand, surrounded by skyscrapers, at the intersection of two historic districts.

E.M. Scarbrough bought out and renamed the business with his sons in 1913. He ran it until his death, succeeded by J. William Scarbrough (1885 – 1960) and Lemuel Scarbrough, Sr. (1889 – 1965) who hired architects Wyatt C. Hedrick and Edwin C. Kreisle for a 1931 redesign. The Scarbrough Building was completely remodeled in an Art Deco facade, with shop windows widened from a paltry 6 ft. (2 m). In its heyday, the department store occupied 95,000 sq. ft. (8,800 m²) spanning three stories, including 10 departments on the ground floor alone.

Decline and closure

Growth after World War II would redefine shopping habits among the city’s new residents. In the 1970s a branch store was opened at Highland, Austin’s first suburban shopping mall. The struggling downtown store closed its doors after dismal 1982 Christmas sales. The Scarbrough name continued in retail until the recent closing of the boutique on Lamar at 38th Street.

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