In 1917, George U. Lansdowne established a hardware and appliance firm. In 1937, he acquired the Ford tractor dealership with the financial backing of the Moody family from Galveston. Mr. Ed Erpp was the general manager at the time and ran the dealership for Mr. Lansdowne. Mr. Lansdowne eventually bought out the Moody family, becoming the sole owner. The original Lansdowne-Moody Company dealership was located in downtown Houston on Texas Avenue.
In 1953, Ed Harris Sr. was hired as a general manager. After one year, Lansdowne-Moody Company had grown to five employees with $200,000 in total sales; this was just the beginning of many years of gr...