ONE SHARE, TEXAS STAR FLOUR MILLS, OF GALVESTON [caption title]

Printed stock certificate, completed in manuscript, certifying that L. Becker was entitled to one share of five hundred dollars of the capital stock of the Texas Star Flour Mills. Signed in ink by Gus. Reymershoffer, Secretary, and J. Reymershoffer, President, January 8, 1881. Single sheet, 21 x 31 cm., printed in various sizes and styles of type, with "$500" overprinted in blue, and a five point star printed in blue and gold, with company blindstamp over the star, vignette of a young woman carrying a sheaf of wheat. Perforated tear sheet edge at left margin (browned), and two small holes punched in left decorative border, small hole from ink burn at lower margin. A manuscript note on the verso, signed by L. Becker, assigning this share to Louis Schneider, March 4, 1881. The Texas Star Flour Mills was founded by Gustav and John Reymershoffer in 1879, and was the largest plant of its kind, capable of milling 125 barrels of flour a day. The brothers arrived in Galveston with their parents, Czech immigrants, in 1855. The family lived in various places in Texas before settling again in Galveston after the Civil War. The brothers were involved in several enterprises in the city, as well as the political scene, and built themselves a pair of mansions side by side in downtown Galveston. The flour mill suffered some minor damage from a storm in 1900 and was demolished in about 1974. [see: Katherine Adams article "The Reymershoffers: A Family Whose Presence Brought Great Benefit to Galveston," in the Galveston Monthly Magazine online, 2021; and an entry on the company at the Rosenberg Library, Galveston].…