MATHEWS & COMPANY
(FORMERLY ERIKSON-HOWARD)
HITS 100
Bob Mathews Plans Carefully For The Next Hundred Years

Many agencies have interesting pasts, but we don’t know of any that can claim a more colorful history than these two MANA member agencies: Erikson-Howard, Inc. and Insulation Components Associates. Both companies, located in San Clemente, California, are owned by Bob Mathews and will change their names to Mathews & Company this month as they celebrate their one hundredth birthday. The firm grew from several successful companies to its present state by the efforts of hard-working and dedicated people. Today, the agency is headed by Bob Mathews, himself, a hard-working and dedicated guy, but, more to the point, a man who has not only learned from history, but who is writing it himself.

     It was one hundred years ago that Bill Hughson and Lou Merton started a company in San Francisco, California, to represent  hardware manufacturers in the rapidly expanding West. Back then, San Francisco had a population of 300,000, and was truly a prosperous place.
    As the story goes, Hughson and Merton started their company with three chairs and two kitchen tables in a loft at 109 California Street.
    Their early years, and the last years of the century, were rewarding. They had to move twice to larger offices.
     In 1906 disaster struck everyone in San Francisco. The earthquake and fire that destroyed most of the city took its toll on the Hughson and Merton enterprise. They were completely wiped out.
    However, a few years earlier, Bill Hughson had become the world’s first Ford automobile dealer – in addition to running his other business. It seems that Bill had met Henry Ford at a bicycle show in 1903, and the two had hit it off well. Sadly, though, Bill Hughson had declined Henry Ford’s offer of stock in his budding automobile company.
    This enterprising manufacturers’ agent/automobile dealer had a stock of cars, and he generously turned them over to do the heavy 		relief work that was needed after the quake. When things settled down a bit and people realized how much Hughson had helped, the local authorities built an office for Hughson and Merton at Battery and Market Streets. This was the first building put up after the fire.
    Needless to say, these two gentlemen were in a perfect position to expand their business and help their neighbors as well. And, as a result, they continued to prosper.
     In 1910, Lou Merton opened another office, this one in Seattle, Washington, which he ran until 1916. He then turned over the management of the office to someone else and returned to San Francisco. It was only a year later that Mr. Merton died. In 1922, Lou Merton’s wife joined the organization and took an active part in management until 1928, when she, too, died.
     In due time, the company had branch offices in Los Angeles, California; Seattle, Washington; Portland, Oregon; Denver, Colorado and several other western cities. Later, it became apparent that it would be simpler if each office operated autonomously, and the changes were made.		 Subsequently, the San Francisco office fell on hard times and management was transferred to Los Angeles.
     During the disastrous thirties, Joe Wilson bought the Los Angeles office. He sold to Ed Erikson and Dick Howard upon his retirement in 1969.
    The name of the agency was later changed to Erikson-Howard. When Ed Erikson died, Dick Howard sold the business to Bob Mathews, himself a successful agent, who continued to run the agency under the Erikson-Howard banner until this month which marks the one hundredth anniversary of the firm.
    The firm is now known as Mathews & Company.
     Writing the history of one-hundred- year-old sales agency, especially one that has been as active as this one, gives you insight that is seldom seen with agencies that have not survived so many economic ups and downs. It’s especially interesting and instructive when the agency is run by a man like Bob Mathews. After establishing himself firmly in the corporate world, Bob Mathews started his agency in Overland Park, Kansas. The year was 1964.
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