By CASWELL ADAMS
Special to the NEWS
Frank Roberts was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri, the son of Frank Roberts and Sarah West.
His father was a merchant businessman.
As a young, single man, Frank Wallace Roberts heard stories of cheap land and he left home, going west to near San Angelo, TX, where he ran a small herd of cattle. He met Allie Elliott of nearby Mertson, TX. and they married, having four sons, Frank, Volmer, Elliott, and Harry, and one daughter, Sadie.
When the government began offering land at bargain rates to those willing to settle in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, Roberts moved his young family in 1914 to what is now Mission, TX. He opened a confectionary business, which was a cross between a soda shop, a tobacco store, and a general store. It was successful, so he left that business to son, Elliot, and moved the rest of the family to San Benito, TX. Volmer and Frank went on to serve in the Army during World War I.
Roberts again open a confectionery shop on Sam Houston Blvd. near where the old Rivoli Theater once stood. But, he did not want to build his home in town, so he began building a large farm house on Austin Road near where the Army of the Rio Grande had troops camped in an area that later became the high school football field. He felt safer from border bandits with his family close to the soldier’s camp.
He became acquainted with many of the soldiers and found they needed a place to congregate, so the back of the confectionery shop became The Alcove, a popular spot for young people for many years.
At about this same time, Roberts’s son Elliott, began bringing a trainload of people from Chicago on what was called land drives. Many times the people would be brought to the Roberts’ home for rest and refreshments, as it was not far from the train depot.
As the Lower Valley settled, there was more bandit activity from across the Mexican border. He often had the children hide under the beds while he, the older boys, and soldiers chased the raiders back across the border. Behind some of the sheetrock in the home at 301 N. Austin, bullet holes remain today from those bandit raids.
Following The Alcove, Roberts opened and operated Roberts Office Supply, again on Sam Houston Blvd., but on the opposite side. As his health failed, he sold that business to Warren Tenney, who continued it as Tenney Office Supply, until his death.
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