Contributors: Stacey Rase, Kelly Rasmus and Kim Vanderbrook
Legend has it that A.R. Blossman Sr. sold more refrigerators in St. Tammany Parish than there were outlets in the parish to run them. When he couldn’t purchase one of the new refrigerators in Louisiana, he went to Chicago to buy one. He returned with a train car full, and proceeded to place them in homes across the parish. It’s that kind of entrepreneurial spirit and determination that has led generations of the Blossman family to become leaders in business, banking and politics in St. Tammany Parish.
Born in St. Tammany 100 years ago, A.R. Blossman Sr. was an optimist, a visionary and a hard-working, plain-spoken man. His father, Richard Sampson Blossman, had moved to Covington from New Orleans before the turn of the century. Richard was a bookkeeper for the Great Southern Lumber Company and was sent to the northshore to audit the company sawmill. Family lore says that it was during a visit to Covington that he noticed the rusty gates of the cemetery in town. Contrasting that with the yellow fever epidemic in the city at that time, he noted that, “No one’s died here in a long time.” He moved his wife and parents to the healthy environs of the northshore.
Never wealthy, Richard also worked as assessor for St. Tammany Parish for 16 terms. Alfred Rhody Blossman Sr. was the oldest of his seven children. Known as Fred, A.R. Sr. left school after the 5th grade to go to work as a paper boy, meeting the arriving trains from New Orleans twice a day. At the station on 23rd Street, where Hebert Cleaners stands today, Fred picked up newspapers and distributed them around town. He also had an ice delivery route that took him through town and into the outlying areas. During the ’30s, Fred worked at the hardware store owned by his uncle, Archie Smith, earning $15 a week.
It was his old ice route that led Fred to Frigidaire. Customers on his route became prospects for the new-fangled refrigerators and Fred began honing his lifelong passion for selling. He quit the job at the hardware store, and opened a Frigidaire dealership. He would ask customers if they minded “storing” a refrigerator for him, since he didn’t have a warehouse. Once they’d seen the future, there was no turning back, and Fred was named National Frigidaire Salesman of the Year. The appliance trade was booming in town, where electricity was available. When he heard talk of a new power source for homes not on electricity, however, it was customers in the outlying areas who inspired Fred’s next opportunity. He expanded his appliance line to include gas ranges.
Liquid gas was a by-product of the emerging oil business in Texas. In those early days, the fuel was practically free, but you had to have a way to capture and transport it. Fred convinced his sister-in-law, Lilly Case of Madisonville, to lend him the $5,000 to get his new business started. He bought a truck with a double-walled tank, and the Blossman Hydrotane Gas Company was born. Eventually, his brothers David, Woodrow and Sam were working with him, and the company quickly grew into one of the largest propane suppliers in the Southeast. With the help of Covington native George Brown, the company developed new valves and regulators that expanded uses for propane and butane fuels. Blossman Hydrotane was registered on the American Stock Exchange, with stockholders in almost every state in the union. Associated companies that grew out of the Blossman Hydrotane success include Blossman Gas on the Gulf Coast, operated today by Woodrow’s family, and Shell station distributorships, run by members of Sam’s family.
In later years, Fred was known to sweep his hands wide to say, “There’s nothing out there but opportunity!” His view of the expanding horizon kept that true for him in his lifetime.
Fred Blossman married Mabel Perrin; they had four children. A.R. Blossman Jr., also known as Fred, was the eldest. He and his brothers Dick and Jack were raised with the same sense of early independence that had set their father off on his own at a young age. As the only daughter in the family, Sue enjoyed a special place in her daddy’s heart throughout his life. Fred Jr. learned to fly at 14, eventually becoming an Air Force pilot. He came home in 1958 to work with his father. Jack was in law school, and Dick was running gas company operations in Alexandria. Fred Jr. was to shepherd the finance company set up to facilitate appliance sales and work with his father in the main office of Blossman Hydrotane. Used to working independently, the senior Blossman cleared the way, literally, for the young Fred to get started. Pushing the papers from his desk into the garbage can, he assured his son that, “If it is important, we’ll hear from them again!” His was a no-nonsense approach to success.
Fred Jr. served as president and CEO of Blossman Hydrotane during its last five years before it was sold to a national company in 1967. That year, the company had brought 125 million gallons of propane fuel to the market – and countless thousands of appliances into area homes. Many people over the years have said to his sons, “I bought the very first gas stove your Daddy ever sold!” He had a gift of salesmanship that made his customers feel special.
After the sale of the gas company, A.R. Sr. focused the family’s business attention on banking. When his financing options for the growing gas company outpaced his local borrowing capacity, he began buying stock in two area banks, preferring to keep his financial interests in the area. Eventually, he acquired a controlling interest in two local financial institutions. The combination of Commercial Bank and Trust and First National Bank eventually became the First National Bank, remembered fondly by many northshore residents. First National was a growing success until its sale to a group of New Orleans investors in 1984. The bank had accumulated more than 50 percent of the total deposits in the parish, and was the largest bank in the parish.
Parish National Bank, which is the largest northshore-owned financial institution, was started in Washington Parish by Fred Blossman in 1968. The St. Tammany operations of Parish National were established in 1986, and the combination of the two entities eventually became what we know of today as Parish National Bank. Parish has a network of 14 branches across St. Tammany, Tangipahoa, Washington, Jefferson and Orleans parishes and northern Florida and has grown to over $500 million in assets. It was during the ’70s that the Blossmans bought enough stock to take control of Tangipahoa’s Central Progressive Bank. Established in 1967, CPB has thrived and recently opened its 17th branch office. They have a total asset size of $435 million. Today, these two organizations are run by A.R. Sr.’s grandsons.
One of Blossmans most well-known forays into real estate was the development of Covington Country Club Estates. After purchasing the property then bounded by North and South Streets to Country Club Drive and from Hwy 190 to the river, A.R. Sr. donated 85 acres of land for a clubhouse and the first nine holes of golf to the fledgling organization of area businessmen. As their first president, he put the resources of his other companies to work getting it off the ground. Dick recalls, “When the club opened it was the center of our social world. My father loved to see the women dressed up – complete with a hat and knockout clothes. And he loved to dance!” He would have had a great time at the recent gala celebrating the 50th anniversary of the club. Dick purchased the club last year and is refurbishing it into a jewel on the river for future generations.
Family traditions
A.R. Sr. loved having family and friends around. It suited his joie de vivre. He got together with his brother Sam to charter a bus for all of the LSU Tiger home games. The bus would fill up with kith and kin and take off to Baton Rouge, instilling a purple and gold passion that endures today. Another tradition was the meeting he had with his children in Mabel’s kitchen every Monday. She would threaten to quit cooking for them when their discussions of family business turned into spirited debate.
A.R. Sr. had strong opinions about the way things ought to be. Some of those extended to the people who worked for him over the years. According to Jack, “He would never hire anyone who smoked a pipe, because it meant they were lazy, and he wouldn’t hire anyone who road a motorcycle, because it meant they were crazy. And he’d never hire a man with a beard.” Jack was able to convince him to rethink the last mandate by growing a beard during a winter trip to Montana. His father looked across Mabel’s kitchen table and decided that the beard hadn’t changed the man after all.
Throughout his life, A.R. Sr. kept everyone laughing. He loved playing tricks on his grandchildren and joking with his friends. When his health was failing, he asked his daughter-in-law, Lynn, to send for the preacher. He received a visit from a young clergyman. “Don’t bring me a rookie!” he said. “This is important stuff!”
When A.R. Blossman Sr. died in 1990, one of the most valuable legacies he left to the northshore is his family. His children and most of his grandchildren and great-grandchildren still call this area home. Their involvement in business, banking and politics has an impact on our community. His footsteps left them a path filled with optimism, vision and dreams for the northshore.
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