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Denison Grocer Company Denison, Texas R. P. Hibbard was born in the state of Michigan, of Scotch parentage, and as a young man removed to Wisconsin, where he spent a number of years in agricultural pursuits. R. P. and M. R. Hibbard came to Texas in 1876 with four sons - Walter, Fred, Charles, and H. A. - and almost immediately embarked in the drug business at Denison, in which he continued to be engaged during the remainder of his life. He passed away in 1907. Mrs. Hibbard, a native of New York, passed away the same year. Charles M. Hibbard was a tinner by trade, carrying on a
successful business in Denison, Texas. H. A. Hibbard became the
proprietor of a retail grocery establishment in Denison. Walter
S. Hibbard and his brother, Frederick P. Hibbard, would
later begin operating one of the earliest successful grocery
companies
in the city; in 1890, he took his earnings and
engaged
There
are in every community men of great force and exceptional ability, who
by reason of their capacity for leadership become recognized as
foremost citizens and bear a most important part in public affairs.
Such a man is Walter S. Hibbard, president of the Denison Grocer
Company, at Denison, a man of large and varied interests, who has spent
his entire business career here. He has at various times taken an
active part in shaping public sentiment when the welfare of the city
has been at stake and is a representative of its best type of
citizenship.
Walter S. Hibbard was born on September 14, 1860, the son of R. P. and M. R. Hibbard, in Wisconsin. His early education was secured in the public schools of his native state. He completed his studies in the graded and high schools of Denison. He early showed ambition and industry, and after his graduation from the high school, he soon secured employment as a telegrapher for the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad at Denison. On April 3, 1884, Mr. Hibbard was united in marriage at Denison, Texas, with Miss Alice Buckman, a daughter of Isaac Buckman. Mrs. Hibbard's father, an old-time grain merchant, came from Illinois to Sherman, Texas, at an early day, and later located in Denison, where his death occurred in 1894. To Mr. and Mrs. Walter S. Hibbard there has been born one daughter: Margaret Evelyn, who became the wife of Jack Little, in the employ of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas Railroad, and has one child, Margaret Alice, who is now four years old. Mr. and Mrs. Hibbard reside in their comfortable modern home, a center of culture and refinement, located at No. 629 Woodard Street, Denison. It has always been his ambition to enter commercial lines, and when the opportunity offered, in 1890, he took his earnings and engaged in the grocery business with his brother, Fred P. Hibbard, under the firm style of Hibbard Brothers. This was but a retail concern, but in 1895, the brothers embarked in the wholesale trade, which met with such success that in 1901 the business was incorporated with a stock company, under the style of Denison Grocery Company, and of this concern Mr. Hibbard has continued to be president. (Source: A History of Texas and Texans, by Francis White Johnson and Ernest William Winkler, volume 3 (1914), page 1417)
Leonidas "Lon" Lowe was employed by the Hibbard Bros.
In 1894, the Hibbard Bros. firm was operating at their new quarters at 112 South Houston Avenue, in a building constructed in 1885 by the Waples-Platter Grocery Company. In February 1894 a fire in the early hours of the morning of Tuesday, February 5th, a fire broke out in the rear of a 3-story building on the corner of Woodard Street and Houston Avenue; the Hibbard Bros. lost a car load of potatoes, valued at $400; these were insured but the policy expired on the 5th. (The Sunday Gazetteer, Sunday, February 11, 1894) In 1895, the brothers embarked into the wholesale trade, which met with such success that in 1901 the business was incorporated with a stock company under the style of Denison Grocer Company with Walter Hibbard continuing as president. The Denison Grocer Company is a concern which has grown out of the needs of its locality, and which has developed its trade until it extends all over the states of Texas and Oklahoma. The business house, at Nos. 212 and 214 North Houston Avenue, is a modern structure, and here handles a full line of all general groceries of a high grade. From the first Mr. Hibbard's able management has been seen in its affairs, and his partners constantly look to him for advice and leadership in matters of important affecting the firm. 
 In 1897, after Lingo-Leeper moved out of the earliest Waples-Platter structure, the Hibbards took up occupancy at 100 East Main Street. They remained at this location for five years and also retained their location at 112 South Houston.
In 1902, the Hibbard Brothers moved into their new Denison Grocer Company building located at 112-114 North Houston Avenue and discontinued the use of the former locations. CITY DIRECTORY
1907 Walter S. Hibbard, president and treasurer of Denison Grocer Company, 112-114 North Houston Avenue. Residence, 624 West Gandy Street. Wife is Allie Hibbard 1907 Denison Grocer Company, 112-114 North Houston Avenue. W.S. Hibbard, president and treasurer; J.B. McDougall, vice-president; C.C. Jinks, secretary 1912
Walter S. Hibbard, member of the Denison School Board.
He urges the City Council to build a new high school.
The Denison Grocer Co. : Wholesale
Grocers. [112-114 North Houston Avenue.] W.S. Hibbard, President
and Treasurer; C.S. Cobb, Vice-President; C.C. Jinks, Secretary.
118 N Houston Avenue remodeled Denison Grocer Company Building ca. 2010 
Aerial View 100 block North Houston Avenue at corner of East Main Street MKT Depot and Southern Nuts Building (earlier, Denison Grocery Company) 
Although he
devotes the greater part of his attention to this business, his
abilities are not allowed to go to waste, for several large industries
have gained the benefit of his keen discernment, acumen and good,
judgment. He is vice-president of the Southwestern Surety and
Insurance Company, and a director of the National Bank of Denison and
of the Denison Banking and Trust Company. He is a member of the
executive board of the Chamber of Commerce, and has the utmost
confidence of his associates in all fields.
The Denison Grocery Company is a concern which has grown out of the needs of its locality, and which has developed its trade until it extends all over the states of Texas and Oklahoma. The business house, at Nos. 212 and 214 North Houston Avenue, is a modern structure, and here handles a full line of all general groceries of a high grade. From the first Mr. Hibbard's able management has been seen in its affairs, and his partners constantly look to him for advice and leadership in matters of importance affecting the firm. Mr. Hibbard has always been a Republican, and while he has served efficiently and conscientiously in the responsibilities placed upon the successful men of any community, and has served efficiently and conscientiously in the capacity of alderman, his record in the city council being an active and honorable one. A close friend of education he has done all in his power to advance its cause, and has served for a long period as a member of the school board, of which he has been president for seven years. His fraternal connections are with the Woodmen of the Word and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, in both of which he has numerous friends. With his family he attends the Presbyterian church, to which he gives his hearty support, both financial and as a member of the board of trustees. After the death of his wife, Alice, in 1923, Mr. Hibbard married Miss Sue Newby in 1945. Mr. Hibbard died in 1947 and his second wife, Sue, in Fairview Cemetery. 
Service with the U.S. Army Signal Corp 
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