W.E. Lowe and J.F. Tad Carter began a wholesale grocery (Lowe & Carter Co.) in De Leon in 1923 replacing Meadows Grocery which had burned during or just after the oil boom.  Lowe & Carter was eventually sold and the purchaser later sold the grocery to J.M. Radford Grocery out of Abilene.  The chain had 32 stores at one time stretching from De Leon on the east to Clovis, New Mexico on the west.

    Radfords operated in De Leon until the Depression.  Curt Morris was the manager in 1929.

   Periodically, Radford put out a magazine that highlighted one of the communities where a store was located.

   The pages below came from the April 1927 edition which featured De Leon. Click on “Play Slideshow” below to review the pages.


    One of the heirs to the Radford chain became involved with an Austin banker who was purported to have stolen much of the Radford fortune.  The suddenly wealthy banker eventually served time at Big Spring for banking irregularities occurring in the 1980s.