Page 22 - Douglas Coffee Newcomers Guide 2025

From Feed Store to Hall of Fame:

R.W. Griffin’s Century of Growth and Service

I n the heart of Douglas stands a humble
By Courtenay Houston

business that has weathered a century
of change. R.W. Griffin Feed, Seed &
Fertilizer opened its doors in 1922, founded
by Ralph Waldo Griffin just as local farmers
were transitioning from mule-drawn plows to
tractors. Through the Great Depression and
World War II, this family-run business kept its
doors open and its community fed.
After Ralph Griffin’s passing in 1967,
his son-in-law Rowan B. “Bunny”
Evans III took the helm. A decade
later, the next generation – Rowan’s
son Ralph Griffin Evans, Sr. – joined
the family business. Young Ralph had
grown up in the store, measuring Inset, the original Douglas store
out garden seed for customers as a
boy of nine. He eventually assumed
leadership and set out to expand the Deep Community Roots third- or fourth-generation farmers walk into
company’s reach. From the beginning, R.W. Griffin’s the Douglas store to pick up supplies or talk
Under Ralph G. Evans’s management, identity has been deeply entwined with crops with the staff.
R.W. Griffin evolved from a small-town farm the community it serves. “We know our All four of Ralph Evans’s adult children (as
and garden center with 25 employees into customers and we live with them in the well as several nephews and sons-in-law)
a regional agribusiness powerhouse of 21 same communities,” an R.W. Griffin company have joined him in the enterprise, ensuring
retail locations, two cotton gins, four peanut statement reads. For five generations, the the family legacy continues. R.W. Griffin’s
buying points, and seven fertilizer terminals, Griffin/Evans family has stood alongside team members aren’t just salespeople
now employing nearly 500 people. It is local growers, adapting to their needs and – they’re local experts, often farmers
recognized as one of the largest privately celebrating their successes. Many customers themselves, who volunteer at 4-H events,
owned diversified agribusinesses in the recall their parents and grandparents support the county fair, or serve in the
Southeast. Through all this growth, the core doing business with R.W. Griffin, making local Chamber of Commerce. Ralph Evans
mission remained the same: provide farmers the company an unbroken thread through even helped found the First National Bank
with quality products and reliable service to the generations of farm families in Coffee of Coffee County to ensure area farmers
keep their operations thriving. County and beyond. It’s not unusual to see had a reliable source of financing. In 2023
the Douglas-Coffee County Chamber of
Commerce honored R.W. Griffin as Industry
Partner of the Year for its role in supporting
local economic growth, job creation, and
agricultural education.

Thriving Operations Today
Walk into R.W. Griffin’s flagship store
in Douglas and you’ll find old-fashioned
hospitality that belies the breadth of this
company’s operations. On the shelves are
not only sacks of feed and seed, but also
modern farm supplies, fertilizer blends, and
the latest agricultural technology solutions.
What began as a small feed and cotton
warehouse has grown into a multifaceted
business. R.W. Griffin now operates a
trucking fleet to deliver bulk dry and liquid
“We know our customers fertilizer, runs peanut buying points where

and we live with them in the local peanut farmers bring their harvest,
and manages Coffee County Cotton Gin in
same communities.” Douglas and Four Corners Gin in Meigs that
process the region’s fall cotton crop. The
Ralph Evans Griffin’s Warehouse name appears in several
Owner/CEO
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