|
|
 |
About
Welch Propane
 |
 |
What began in July 1947 as a business to help customers keep their cool, Welch
Propane has grown to provide the main source of heating for many area residents. Following his discharge from the Navy after World War II, founder George Welch Sr. entered refrigeration school in St. Louis. Upon completion, George Sr. moved to Atlanta with his wife, Frances, and sons, George Jr. and Mike.
He opened the first business location of Welch Refrigeration in the garage at the rear of his family’s home. For the first few years, the business was primarily service only. In the early 1950s, he began handling appliances, along with the refrigeration service.
George’s father, R.J. Welch, founded Welch Butane at Naples in January 1950. As he quickly became known and respected for his self-made business expertise and wisdom, Welch Butane grew to become one of the largest independent LP-Gas dealerships in the area.
With his father’s help, George slowly began getting into the gas business, and in 1955, he relocated to Main Street and started retailing butane and propane gas to area rural customers. In 1957, the business was moved to its present location on East Main Street and became affiliated with Carrier Air Conditioning Co. as the exclusive Atlanta dealer. The Carrier dealership was sold in the mid-1970s.
George’s wife, Frances, worked by his side to help get his company established. She served as the head bookkeeper from the company’s inception, through all of its relocations, until her retirement in 1980.
Meanwhile, R.J. Welch retired January 1, 1968, turning his Welch Butane business operations over to George (Atlanta location) and his other son, Hershel (Naples location). The business acquired other LP-Gas dealerships and consolidated them with the parent operations. In 1984, the two separate family businesses, each operation under its own corporate charter, adopted the trade name WelchGas.
Upon his retirement, George Welch, Sr. turned the management of his four office locations- Atlanta, Linden, Douglassville and Texarkana- over to his sons George Jr. and Mike, and daughter and son-in-law, Jana and Tom Granberry.
Hershel Welch and his son, Wesley, managed the five offices in Naples, Daingerfield, Mount Pleasant, Bogata and Clarksville.
George Sr. served as president of the Texas LP-Gas Association in 1972-73 and 25 years later George Jr. served as state president of the same organization.
The latest expansion of Welch
Propane (Cass County Butane Co., Inc.) was in 1995-96 with the addition of the Texarkana storage facility, appliance and offices and mini-storage buildings.
George Jr. serves as president, Mike as secretary/treasurer. Tom Granberry is vice president and Jana is head bookkeeper and office manager of Welch
Propane. Welch Propane sales and services 3,500 accounts in five counties in Northeast Texas and in Miller County, Ark.
The business founders, George Sr. and Frances, passed away in 1991 and 1996, respectively.
Known throughout Texas and the nation for their strong beliefs and efforts in marketing, Welch
Propane was the winner of the National Marketing Achievement Award in 1985 and the recipient of the 1995 Texas Railroad Commission “Superstar” award for marketing. |
|
