Hart Graphics, Inc.

The Steck Company began as the Christian publishing house Firm Foundations. Firm Foundations started in the late 19th century in Austin and published weekly bulletins and songbooks for the Church of Christ. In 1912, E. L. Steck took over the printing side of the business from his father and founded the E. L. Steck Company, which continued to publish works for Firm Foundations well into the 1920s. In 1921 they dropped the "E. L.," changing the name to the Steck Company, and continued to prosper as a general line commercial printing company selling printing, lithographing and stationery to cities, schools, counties, banks and commercial accounts in Texas.

In 1928 the Steck Company facilities moved to 9th and Lavaca streets, where it prospered for many years. In 1937, it produced the first four-color process on newsprint in the U.S.

The company has gone through many names in its 89-year history. In 1962, Vaughn Building Corporation in Dallas acquired 100 percent of the shares of the Steck Company. In April 1965, the Publications Division of the Steck Company was turned into a separate corporate entity entitled the Steck-Vaughn Company, which was acquired by Intext Educational Publishers in 1968.

In August 1965, the Steck Company acquired Warlick Press of Dallas and changed its name to Steck-Warlick. Warlick, founded in 1894, was a financial printing house that had recently acquired web press printing facilities.

In 1971, Steck-Warlick spun out its Data Processing Division to create Steck Data Corporation, which engaged in performing data processing services for municipal tax accounting, voter registration, hospital patient accounting, mailing lists and other specialty fields. Both Steck-Warlick and Steck Data Corporation were still owned by Vaughn Building Corporation.

In April 1972, Steck-Warlick spun off its publishing activities to create Shoal Creek Publishers, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of the company. The new corporation dealt in a broad line of publishing activities.

In December 1973, William Hart, then president of Steck-Warlick, acquired the Austin division of the company, which he renamed Hart Graphics, Inc. During the 1970s and 1980s, Hart Graphics was the largest commercial printer headquartered in Texas. Its products and services ranged from printing TV Guide, catalogs, publications, coupons, inserts and software manuals to financial, insurance, and government forms, including election ballots and supplies sold to every county in Texas. It also had additional sites in Houston, Simpsonville, South Carolina, and Irvine, California.

Hart retired as company chairman in 1997. After losing its contract with TV Guide and due to the high cost of modernizing its printing equipment, the company closed its doors in March 2001.

From the guide to the Hart Graphics, Inc. Records AR. 2003. 036., 1915-2003, 1960s-1980s, (Austin History Center, Austin Public Library, )