James Marion West Sr.

James Marion West Sr. (May 2, 1871 – August 24, 1941) was a wealthy Houston, Texas, businessman who substantially influenced the city's development during the early 20th century.

He built a business empire that included ranching, banking, lumber, oil, real estate, and newspaper publishing.

His family settled on land in Trinity County and began a life of subsistence farming.

West would leave school early at the age of 13 due to the financial stress his family endured.

[2] He married a school teacher from Josserand, Texas, named Jessie Gertrude (née Dudley).

[4] Financial stress on his family forced West to leave school in 1884 at the age of 13 to work as a water boy at the Trinity County Lumber Company in Groveton, TX, owned by Peter Josserand Jr. West saved money from this position, using the funds to later buy a drug store in Groveton where he would work after spending the day at the lumber mill.

Shortly thereafter he began raising longhorn cattle on the side, a business he would also later grow into a veritable empire.

West was elected to a two-year term as 16th President of the Texas and Southwestern Cattle Raisers Association, but resigned after one year in office.

[27] The favor would be returned many years later when Dolph Jr., by then governor of the state, appointed West's daughter-in-law Neva to the Texas Commission on the Arts for a four-year term beginning in 1975.

[32] After oil was discovered on his ranch in present-day Clear Lake City, he sold the ranch to the Humble Oil Company, a forerunner of today's ExxonMobil in 1937 for $8.5 million cash (worth some $139,400,607 in February, 2013 dollars) and a substantial amount of stock.

[38] He served for years as Chairman of the Houston City Planning Commission, and was also a Director of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas.

[44] His main home was the West Ranch in the Galveston Bay Area occupying what is now Clear Lake City and NASA's Johnson Space Center.