Algur H. Meadows
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Algur Hurtle Meadows (April 24, 1899 – June 10, 1978) was an American oil tycoon, art collector, and benefactor of
Southern Methodist University , mottoeng = "The truth will make you free" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = SACS , academic_affiliations = , religious_affiliation = United Methodist Church , president = R. Gerald Turner , prov ...
and other institutions.


Life

Meadows was born on April 20, 1899, in Vidalia,
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...
, the third of seven children of John Morgan and Sally Marie Elora (Dailey) Meadows. After receiving his diploma from Vidalia Collegiate Institute in 1915, he studied at Georgia and Alabama Business College and
Mercer University Mercer University is a private research university with its main campus in Macon, Georgia. Founded in 1833 as Mercer Institute and gaining university status in 1837, it is the oldest private university in the state and enrolls more than 9,000 ...
, both in Macon,
Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...
. Meadows subsequently left
Mercer Mercer may refer to: Business * Mercer (car), a defunct American automobile manufacturer (1909–1925) * Mercer (consulting firm), a large human resources consulting firm headquartered in New York City * Mercer (occupation), a merchant or trader ...
to travel around the South with a friend, during which journey he held a variety of jobs. He first manifested his business acumen in his accounting work for
Standard Oil Company Standard Oil Company, Inc., was an American oil production, transportation, refining, and marketing company that operated from 1870 to 1911. At its height, Standard Oil was the largest petroleum company in the world, and its success made its co-f ...
in
Shreveport Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the third most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Baton Rouge, respectively. The Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area, with a population o ...
,
Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
, from 1921 to 1929. During this period he earned a law degree from Centenary College and was admitted to the
Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
state bar, in 1926. On December 11, 1922, he married Virginia Stuart Garrison, with whom he had one son. In the fall of 1928 Meadows and friends Henry W. Peters, his son Eric Woods, and Ralph G. Trippett founded a loan company, the General Finance Company, which later became the General American Finance System in 1930. In the summer of 1936 Meadows, Peters and Trippett united with J. W. Gilliland, a petroleum expert, to form the
General American Oil Company Phillips Petroleum Company was an American oil company incorporated in 1917 that expanded into petroleum refining, marketing and transportation, natural gas gathering and the chemicals sectors. It was Phillips Petroleum that first found oil in the ...
. The headquarters were then moved from
Shreveport Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the third most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Baton Rouge, respectively. The Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area, with a population o ...
to
Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
in 1937. The new company experienced a phenomenal expansion in operations, due to an ingenious method of acquiring oil-producing properties that Meadows developed. The scheme, which Meadows dubbed the "ABC plan," involved three parties in the purchase transaction to minimize tax liability and the use of interest-bearing oil payments to meet a large percentage of the purchase price. Meadows became the president and major stockholder of the
General American Oil Company Phillips Petroleum Company was an American oil company incorporated in 1917 that expanded into petroleum refining, marketing and transportation, natural gas gathering and the chemicals sectors. It was Phillips Petroleum that first found oil in the ...
in 1941 and was elected chairman of the board in 1950. By 1959 his company had acquired 2,990 oil wells in fifteen states and
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
and was drilling for oil in
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...
. In 1983, Meadows, Trippett, and Peters' son, Eric Woods, sold General American Oil Company to
Phillips Petroleum Phillips Petroleum Company was an American oil company incorporated in 1917 that expanded into petroleum refining, marketing and transportation, natural gas gathering and the chemicals sectors. It was Phillips Petroleum that first found oil in the ...
. On business trips to
Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
in the 1950s, Meadows insisted on staying at the
Ritz Carlton The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, LLC is an American multinational company that operates the luxury hotel chain known as The Ritz-Carlton. The company has 108 luxury hotels and resorts in 30 countries and territories with 29,158 rooms, in addit ...
. A hotel located right next door to the Museo Nacional del Prado
Prado The Prado Museum ( ; ), officially known as Museo Nacional del Prado, is the main Spanish national art museum An art museum or art gallery is a building or space for the display of art, usually from the museum's own collection. It migh ...
, where Meadows frequented which inspired an interest in Spanish old master

He began acquiring paintings attributed to artists such as
El Greco Domḗnikos Theotokópoulos ( el, Δομήνικος Θεοτοκόπουλος ; 1 October 1541 7 April 1614), most widely known as El Greco ("The Greek"), was a Greek painter, sculptor and architect of the Spanish Renaissance. "El G ...
and
Goya Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 174616 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, and ...
. Following the death of his wife in 1961, he donated his collection and a million-dollar endowment to
Southern Methodist University , mottoeng = "The truth will make you free" , established = , type = Private research university , accreditation = SACS , academic_affiliations = , religious_affiliation = United Methodist Church , president = R. Gerald Turner , prov ...
in order to establish a museum of Spanish art in her memory. He subsequently donated a collection of contemporary Italian sculpture to SMU in order to found an outdoor sculpture garden in honor of his second wife, Elizabeth Boggs Bartholow, whom he married in 1962. In recognition of Meadows's multiple gifts, exceeding $34 million, the SMU trustees named the university's school of arts in his honor in 1969,
Meadows School of the Arts The Algur H. Meadows School of the Arts is the fine arts unit at Southern Methodist University, located in University Park, Texas, U.S. It is known for its programs in art, art history, arts administration, cinema, performing arts, advertising, jou ...
. In 1964 Meadows, with the encouragement of his second wife, began collecting paintings by
French Impressionists Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement characterized by relatively small, thin, yet visible brush strokes, open Composition (visual arts), composition, emphasis on accurate depiction of light in its changing qualities (often accentuating ...
and
post-Impressionists Post-Impressionism (also spelled Postimpressionism) was a predominantly French art movement that developed roughly between 1886 and 1905, from the last Impressionist exhibition to the birth of Fauvism. Post-Impressionism emerged as a reaction aga ...
. Three years later, in a widely publicized discovery, he learned that thirty-eight of the fifty-eight works in his private collection were forgeries and that many of the earlier works in SMU's
Meadows Museum The Meadows Museum, nicknamed "Prado on the Prairie", is a two-story, 66,000 sq. ft.art museum in Dallas, Texas on the campus of Southern Methodist University (SMU). Operating as a division of SMU's Meadows School of the Arts, the museum houses one ...
collection were falsely attributed. With characteristic generosity, Meadows immediately gave the museum a million dollars to replace the questionable works and began rebuilding his private collection, much of which was donated to the
Dallas Museum of Art The Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) is an art museum located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas, along Woodall Rodgers Freeway between St. Paul and Harwood. In the 1970s, the museum moved from its previous location in Fair Park to the Art ...
after his death. In 1965, Meadows purchased 360 pieces of original artwork from the family of the recently deceased French artist,
Jean Despujols Jean Despujols ( Salles en Gironde 19 March 1886-Shreveport, 1965) was a French, later naturalised American, painter. He was a pupil of Paul Quinsac at the école des Beaux-Arts of Bordeaux. In 1914 he won the Prix de Rome for painting but the out ...
. Despujols immigrated to the United States during
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
and lived in
Shreveport, Louisiana Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the third most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, respectively. The Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area, with a population of 393,406 in 2020, is t ...
until his death. Meadows paid the Despujols family $250,000 for the paintings and promptly donated them to Centenary College. He also gifted $200,000 to the college to remodel the former administration building into an art gallery and later gave an additional $150,000 to be used for museum maintenance. The
Meadows Museum of Art The Meadows Museum of Art at Centenary College of Louisiana in Shreveport is charged with the collection, conservation, preservation and interpretation of visual art works of museum quality. It is also a vital resource for students studying art hi ...
opened on Centenary's campus in 1975. Meadows generously benefitted programs throughout
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
in health, education, visual arts, and social services, under the auspices of the Meadows Foundation, which he and his first wife established in 1948. He was on the board of directors of
Republic National Bank of Dallas First Republic Bank Corporation was an American bank based in Texas. Founded as the Guaranty Bank and Trust Company in 1920, in 1922 it assumed the name Republic National Bank of Dallas. Afterwards the bank acquired several banks and invested i ...
, a trustee of SMU, and on the board of directors at St. Mark's School, Presbyterian Hospital,
Children's Medical Center Children's Medical Center Dallas is a nationally ranked pediatric acute care teaching hospital located in Dallas, Texas, USA. The hospital has 496 pediatric beds and is affiliated with the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School. It provides ...
, Hope Cottage, and the Wadley Research Center. Meadows was a
Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
, a
Mason Mason may refer to: Occupations * Mason, brick mason, or bricklayer, a craftsman who lays bricks to construct brickwork, or who lays any combination of stones, bricks, cinder blocks, or similar pieces * Stone mason, a craftsman in the stone-cut ...
, and a member of numerous professional, civic, and social organizations, including the
American Petroleum Institute The American Petroleum Institute (API) is the largest U.S. trade association for the oil and natural gas industry. It claims to represent nearly 600 corporations involved in production, refinement, distribution, and many other aspects of the pet ...
, Independent Petroleum Association, Dallas Petroleum Club, Dallas Art Association, Dallas Citizens Council, and
Sigma Nu Sigma Nu () is an undergraduate Fraternities and sororities in North America, college fraternity founded at the Virginia Military Institute on January 1, 1869. The fraternity was founded by James Frank Hopkins, Greenfield Quarles and James McIlva ...
fraternity. He received an honorary doctor of humane letters degree from SMU in 1965 and an honorary doctor of laws degree from Centenary College in 1969. He died in a Dallas hospital on June 10, 1978, after an automobile accident in
Duncanville, Texas Duncanville is a city in southwest Dallas County, Texas, in the United States. Duncanville's population was 40,706 at the 2020 census. The city is part of the Best Southwest area, which includes Duncanville, Cedar Hill, DeSoto, and Lancaster ...
the night before, and was entombed at Hillcrest Mausoleum. His legacy of generosity to the public lives on in the
Meadows Museum of Art The Meadows Museum of Art at Centenary College of Louisiana in Shreveport is charged with the collection, conservation, preservation and interpretation of visual art works of museum quality. It is also a vital resource for students studying art hi ...
at Centenary College, the
Meadows Museum The Meadows Museum, nicknamed "Prado on the Prairie", is a two-story, 66,000 sq. ft.art museum in Dallas, Texas on the campus of Southern Methodist University (SMU). Operating as a division of SMU's Meadows School of the Arts, the museum houses one ...
at SMU, now considered to be the finest collection of Spanish art outside of
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...
, and through the beneficence of the Meadows Foundation, which by the end of 2013 had donated more than $1 billion to charitable organizations in
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
.


See Also


The Meadows Building earn an award of Midcentury Modern Design, in The Preservation Dallas 2021 Achievement Awards


References

*Current Biography Yearbook, 1960. *William A. McWhirter, "How Art Swindlers Duped a Virtuous Millionaire," Life, July 7, 1967. *Mark Singer, "The ABC's of Oil," Texas Monthly, January 1986. *Vertical Files, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, University of Texas at Austin.
General American Oil Company
{{DEFAULTSORT:Meadows, Algur H. American businesspeople in the oil industry Philanthropists from Texas 1899 births 1978 deaths People from Vidalia, Georgia 20th-century American philanthropists 20th-century American businesspeople Businesspeople from Texas Philanthropists from Georgia (U.S. state) Businesspeople from Georgia (U.S. state) American art collectors Road incident deaths in Texas