When Marty Leonard spoke to the River Oaks Area Historical Society, she brought back many memories of the family owned department store.  At its peak it covered a seven block area in upper downtown Fort Worth .

All of us mature adults can remember those fun shopping trips to the Leonard’s Department Store.  It was owned by brothers Obadiah (Obie) and Marvin Leonard.  We also remember the fabulous Christmas decorations each year in the big display windows of the main store.  Mechanical Santas, elves and villages often caused traffic to stop in the street.  Inside the store was the wonderful toy department with the monorail that took children for rides.

ROAHS Program Chairman Linda Claridge introduced Marty and reminded us of the generosity of the Leonard Family to River Oaks.  Linda stated that Obie’s wife was Margery (Woolridge).  Their families were very helpful in the development of River Oaks.

When Fort Worth decided it could not put a water system in River Oaks, the Obie Leonard family put it in and maintained it for a number of years until River Oaks was able to purchase it.

Marty was a witty and personable speaker.  She said that her father, Marvin and his younger brother Obie, made a great team.  Her father was the planner, the visionary and progressive businessman and Obie was the engineer and inventor.  Her dad went to work for a grocery store in Dallas and liked it so much he decided to open his own store.  In 1918, at 22 years of age he opened his store in Fort Worth because he did not want to be in competition with his former employer.  This spoke well of his integrity.

Marty stated that there is a marble historical marker at the location where they had their first store.

In just a few years, the 25 foot store grew to be a mega complex of stores that covered seven blocks.  You could purchase groceries, medicine, clothing, furniture, tractors, a piano, or just about anything else you might want.  They also had a great meat market, a bakery and a cafeteria.  People came from miles around to shop there.  “Everybody’s Department Store”, their early version of a discount store was part of the complex.  Even in those early days the brothers were always on the ‘cutting edge’ of retail business.  They were the first in Fort Worth to install an escalator.  When Obie found out how much escalators cost, he designed and built his own.  They were also the first to install electric doors.  Buying in bulk quantities they often would buy items that other merchants thought as foolish.  Once they bought a truck load of red paint. Then they advertised a ‘Red Paint Sale’.  They sold the whole load in a matter of days.

They bought land a few blocks away and bussed customers to their doors.  In 1963 they replaced their buses with the first privately owned subway to bring them in.  You stepped from the subway into Leonard’s Department Store.  Marty’s dad said “Even if people plan to go elsewhere to shop, they first have to go through Leonard Brothers”.  It appears that his logic paid off.

In those early years, Marty said that the doctor told her dad that he was working too hard and he needed to get some exercise.  He took up golf but he thought it was a pretty game, but it wasn’t long before the “golf bug” bit him and he began to love the game.  He built the Colonial Country Club and Golf Course in 1936.  and he became a life-long friend to Ben Hogan and Byron Nelson.  Marvin and Amon Carter had discussed building a country club and golf course on a vast area of vacant land on the west side of Fort Worth that Carter owned.  However they could not come to an agreement concerning the layout of the course.  When Mr. Carter died his will stated that Marvin Leonard could have first chance at purchasing the land.  Leonard bought it and built Shady Oaks Country Club in 1958.  Ridgmar Mall and several residential areas have also been built on the acreage.  The Leonard Family retains about 100 acres of the original parcel. 

Later in life, Marvin sold his portion of Leonard Brothers to brother Obie.  Still later, Obie’s two sons Bob and Paul ran the operation until 1971 when they closed and sold the property to Tandy Corporation.  When Radio Shack bought the buildings, the subway was closed.

There were many articles written about Marvin and Obie during their lifetime.  In 1944 they were on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post and inside was as article titled “The Brothers Act”.  Time Magazine covered them in 1948 and again in 1963.  There have been many other news stories written about them through the years and there is a book about Marvin’s life and his merchandising genius.

Marty also said that in recent years she had received letters from telling her of their remembrances of Leonards.  They also sent articles, and offers of items that were sold at Leonards many years before.  A good friend gave her small red wagon built in 1936 and sold by the store.  She later received an old cash register from the stores early days.  It was about then she decided it would be fun to start a museum to preserve the memory of the sore and the family.  She put together a list of friends and former employees and invited them to a big party, on one condition---that they bring one “Leonard” item with them when they came.  She was very surprised at the turnout and that started the collection that she kept in her home.  She even received 3000 pound safe that had been in the store.  It took a crane to lift it.  Marty stated she had ‘worlds’ of photographs.  When the collection got too big she talked to her friend John Roach with Tandy Corporation and he let her use a small space near the old ice rink for a museum.  Since Radio Shack is the new owner of the property, she is looking for a good place to house a museum.   The River Oaks Area Historical Society is definitely invited to be her guest when that time comes.

Among many benevolent endeavors that the family has been involved, Marty has long been a supporter of the Lena Pope Home.  To celebrate her 50^th birthday, her family and a group of close friends made a substantial contribution toward a chapel to be built on the Lena Pope Campus and named it in her honor.  Other friends and admirers of the wonderful lady began to make contributions to the building fund and the project was completed with more than 300 supporters.  The beautiful building was dedicated in 1990 as the “Marty Leonard Chapel”.  Marty spoke of this with such awe, it was obvious she considered this honor the most significant one of her lifetime.  She has been a supporter for the Lena Pope Home for more than four decades.

Marty asked for a show of hands of people who had worked for Leonard’s and there were quite a few at this meeting.  She had already mentioned that River Oaks resident and friend Johnny Carpenter, had worked many years in the Leonard’s credit department for nine years.  When she asked how many had shopped at Leonard Brother’s, all hands went up.

All areas of the metroplex have certainly been blessed by the presence of several generations of Leonard family members for nearly 90 years of service and they continue to be contributors to Fort Worth and surrounding cities.  Marty said her father’s work ethics were such that his contributions in the work place and in public were done with little fanfare.

Thanks Marty for spending an evening with River Oaks Area Historical Society and bringing back some wonderful memories to our members and guests.