The Southwestern Company History

The Southwestern Company history dates back to the first half of the 19th century. There are indications that the company was publishing religious pamphlets as far back as 1840 but the company finally settled in the mid-1850s as the Southwestern Publishing House under the leadership of Rev. James Robinson Graves. Initially the company sold its products through the mail but after the Civil War, Rev. Graves developed a new sales concept by engaging young Southern men to sell the products door-to-door.

As the years passed and the business grew, another significant change in the business was adapted by two brothers, J.D. Henderson and W.E. Henderson. They founded the concept of each salesman receiving a commission based on individual sales and eliminated the division of profits by crews. J.B. Henderson, W.E. Henderson, Dortch Oldham, Fred Landers and Rich Penuel developed skills through their involvement in the Southwestern program that allowed them to keep the company afloat during the Depression, World War II and many years to follow.

After being sold to Times-Mirror in 1969, Spencer Hays led the company through many more good years. In the early 1970s Southwestern started a fund-raising subsidiary which became a separate company in 1975, now known as Great American Opportunities, Inc. In 1982, executives from Southwestern and Great American organized a buy-out of Southwestern from Times-Mirror, and once again the Company was owned by the people who managed and built it.

Today, Southwestern/Great American, Inc. is made up of multiple sales-based companies, with the heart still the summer sales program for college students.