The following is an archived discussion of the DYK nomination of the article below. Please do not modify this page. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as this nomination's talk page, the article's talk page or Wikipedia talk:Did you know), unless there is consensus to re-open the discussion at this page. No further edits should be made to this page.
The result was: promoted by SL93talk 18:25, 23 March 2025 (UTC)
Source: "The brothers hauled trash for the city of Houston to make ends meet." Houston Chronicle
ALT1: ... that Herman Brown, founder of Brown & Root, got his start in the construction business using the mules and used equipment he was paid with in lieu of back wages by his employer? Source: "His boss paid him in used equipment and mules, and Herman formed his own business. Texas Monthly
ALT2: ... that after the death of Herman Brown, his entire estate and the bulk of the millions from the sale of Brown & Root were given to his charitable foundation? Source: TSHA: "in 1963, after their deaths, the estate of Margarett and Herman Brown was given to the Brown Foundation" Brown Foundation and from the CIA: "Another interesting enterprise is the Brown Foundation, to which Herman bequeath much of his holdings and which acquired most of the $36 million paid by Halliburton Co. for Brown & Root. CIA released document
'ALT2a: ...that after the death of Herman Brown, his entire estate and the bulk of the millions from the sale of Brown & Root were given to his charitable foundation, which has distributed in excess of $2 billion dollars in grants within Texas? Additional source: "Over its nearly 75-year history, The Brown Foundation has distributed more than $2 billion in grants across the state of Texas." The Brown Foundation
ALT2b: ... that after Herman Brown's death, his estate and most of the proceeds from the sale of Brown & Root were donated to his charitable foundation, which has given over $2 billion in grants in Texas? Additional source: "Over its nearly 75-year history, The Brown Foundation has distributed more than $2 billion in grants across the state of Texas." The Brown Foundation
Comment: An "article" Herman Brown existed before as a redirect to Brown & Root. (This is a new article). Herman Brown was the original founder of Brown & Root. (Root, his brother-in-law, was a financial backer). His brother, George R. Brown (GRB), joined the company a few years later. An article existed on GRB, but not on Herman Brown, who has a very interesting story.
Created by ERcheck (talk).
Number of QPQs required: 0. Nominator has fewer than 5 past nominations.
Overall: Looks pretty good on the list's remarks; as for the hook, I would probably prefer ALT2, if possible, with a mention of the two billion dollar number that the foundation would eventually give out to try and attract a bit of interest. Otherwise, ALT0 is probably my preference. Thanks @ERcheck: for writing this up, was an interesting read. --PixDeVl(T | C | G) 05:15, 5 March 2025 (UTC)
Thanks @PixDeVl:. I added an ALT2a on your suggestion. Both sound good, though I think ALT1 is as strong a hook, being reminiscent of "forty acres and a mule". :-) — ERcheck (talk) 06:16, 5 March 2025 (UTC)
Hm, seems ALT2a is a bit too long sadly @ERcheck: (232 chars). Given that ALT2 is 155 characters itself it may just be too short to include :/ If we can't find a way to include it concisely, I'll stand by ALT2 initial because I feel it carries them most "oooo" without knowledge of what Brown & Root is, although ALT1 also carries that, so I'd probably place ALT0, 1 and 2 more or less around the same in interestingness. --PixDeVl(T | C | G) 13:02, 5 March 2025 (UTC)
Oops, @PixDeVl:, missed looking at the word count. I've struckout the ALT2a; ALT2 has (193 characters). This gives keeps your idea for revising ALT2 in the running. :-) — ERcheck (talk) 15:08, 5 March 2025 (UTC)
Awesome, I also went ahead and added the bold and other links to ALT2b. I think this should be good to send down to the next queue then @ERcheck:. --PixDeVl(T | C | G) 17:49, 5 March 2025 (UTC)
Looks pretty good on the list's remarks; as for the hook, I would probably prefer ALT2, if possible, with a mention of the two billion dollar number that the foundation would eventually give out to try and attract a bit of interest. Otherwise, ALT0 is probably my preference. Thanks @ERcheck: for writing this up, was an interesting read. --PixDeVl (T | C | G) 05:15, 5 March 2025 (UTC)