Circa 1921-1971: Oscar Robinson (1878-1965) attended UT from 1899 to 1909 but quit just short of a law degree. He began his career by opening a clothing store on Congress Avenue from 1906 to 1914. He married Floy Beckham. He went into the cotton oil business in 1913 and owned four mills in the 1920s. By the mid 1920s he built Travis Cotton Seed Products, which escalated into ten mills. After working for two decades with South Texas Cotton Oil, Robinson was noted as a genius in market analysis and product distribution. In the 1930s Oscar was associated with E.H. Perry and Dave Reed. They sold their mills to Wesson Oil and Snowdrift Company. Robinson remained the vice president and general manager of the South Texas Cotton Oil Company. Oscar was the son of Alonzo Robinson (1852-1936), and grandson of John H. Robinson Sr. (1815-1897), who began a mercantile business in Austin in 1852. John, Alonzo, and Oscar were also involved in cattle ranching. Oscar and his wife lived at 1711 San Gabriel until their respective deaths.

An interesting and related note: Oscar’s grandfather, whose ship from England wrecked off the Virginia coast, drifted to New Orleans and there met Col. E.M. House’s father, a baker. The two set up a business with Robinson delivering cakes and pies baked by House.