History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men, Part 72

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1358

USA > Missouri > St Louis County > St Louis City > History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men > Part 72

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In 1882 the total number of establishments en- gaged in the trade was ninety-six. It is also a re- markable fact that the failures in this line have been fewer than in any other trade of similar extent. Since the war the process of manufacture has been greatly changed by the introduction of sewing-ma- chines and other machinery, and the speed in the process of manufacture has so greatly increased that at least a dozen saddles can now be turned out in the time it formerly took to make one. Much of the manufacturing, in so far as elm " trecs" is con- cerned, is done at the State Penitentiary at Jefferson City, and then the appendages of leather, in various styles of artistic finish, are added, giving to the " tree" a neat appearance. Prices of saddlery have been greatly reduced, so that a saddle formerly costing say fifteen dollars can now be purchased for five dollars, and the average price of the finest scarcely goes above ten dollars. The facilities for manufacturing and the large tributary territory give St. Louis great advan- tages over other markets, and the trade is constantly increasing in extent as well as in the reputaton which is accorded the market for the uniform excellence of its saddlery goods.

Boots and Shoes .- The wholesale boot and shoe business is an important factor in the commercial prosperity of St. Louis.2

1 John Chandler & Co., saddle-, bridle-, and harness-makers, Main Street, advertised their business Fcb. 1, 1812, and John Jacoby, saddler, informed his friends and the public generally, Dec. 14, 1816, that he had removed his shop from near Lexing- ton, Ky., to St. Louis, " where he has opened a shop on Front Street, near Governor Clark's, and opposite T. Hunt's store." Aug. 23, 1820, T. Grimsley and William Stark conducted the saddlery and harness business in Jacoby's old stand, next below Neal & Liggett.

2 Among the early boot and shoe makers of St. Louis were the following :

Young & Bright, who dissolved partnership March 22, 1810, the business being continued by John A. Bright.

Badgely & Stubblefield, " ladies' and gentlemen's shoe and boot makers," who announced on the 11th of April, 1811, that they had commenced business and " would carry on the vari- ous branches of their profession."

Johu Holbrook, boot and shoe maker, whose place of business (Feb. 8, 1820) was " his new brick house, South Main Street."

18,436.253

24,114,529

1879.

17,1%9,894

21,439,051

1877 ..

Pounds.

TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.

1317

Nineteen wholesale houses were engaged in the trade in 1881, which aggregated about ten millions of dollars. The manufacture of boots and shoes is also carried on to a considerable extent in St. Louis, the number of firms in 1881 being one hundred and eighty-four, with an annual business of one million eight hundred thousand dollars.

Of the wholesale firms engaged in the sale of boots and shoes the house of Hamilton, Brown & Co. is among the most prominent. One of the founders of this great firm, and at present the general manager of its affairs, is Alanson D. Brown. Mr. Brown was

several years, and where he was engaged for three years as elerk in a general merchandise store. He then engaged in business with one of his uneles with such success that in two years he was enabled to dis- pose of his interest for thirteen thousand dollars. In the spring of 1872 he removed to St. Louis, and engaged in the wholesale boot and shoe busi- ness with James M. Hamilton, a gentleman of great experience in the business, who had long been a valued employé of the well-known house of Appleton, Noyes & Co. The firm started under the name of Hamilton & Brown, and it is interest-

FAMOUS

CON

LOTHING

OUTFITTERS FOR ALL MANKIND.

ST. LOUIS RAILWAY

FAMOUS SHOE AND CLOTHING COMPANY, Northwest Cor. Fifth and Morgan Streets.

born in Granville, Washington Co., N. Y., March 21, 1847. His parents are yet living, and his father, who is a prosperous farmer of that section, has been supervisor for several terms, although his party has been decidedly in the minority, and is otherwise prominent in town affairs.

Young Brown's boyhood was that of most farmer lads, working on the farm in summer and attend- ing the distriet school in winter; he also attended a commercial college at Rutland, Vt. In 1864 he obtained a position as elerk in a store at Granville, where he remained two years, and then removed to Columbus, Miss., where two uneles had lived for

ing, in view of the present dimensions of the business, to reeall the circumstance that the joint capital of the two partners was but twenty-three thousand dol- lars, Mr. Hamilton contributing ten thousand dollars and Mr. Brown the thirteen thousand dollars he brought with him from Mississippi. The business grew rapidly, and its subsequent development has been with- out precedent and far beyond the most sanguine expee- tations of its founders. In 1876 two additional part- ners were admitted, William H. Carroll and E. F. Williams, who had been salesmen in the house, and the style of the firm became Hamilton, Brown & Co., which is its present designation. The house, although

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comparatively a young onc, was then transacting a business of many hundreds of thousands of dollars annually ; but the firm resolved to attempt what their contemporaries declared to be a dangerous experi- ment, the selling of goods only for cash instead of the usual four and six months' time, a method that seemed to Hamilton, Brown & Co. to be at variance with sound business principles, and therefore in 1877 they instituted the reform indicated, believing it not only safer for themselves in the avoidance of bad debts and the risks involved in the sale of goods on credit, but equally to the advantage of their cus- tomers in affording them better bargains for their money. The result proved the thorough soundness of their reasoning, for in 1877, the first year of the experiment, the sales of the establishment were larger than ever before, and amounted to seven hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

The subsequent development of the business of Hamilton, Brown & Co. has been one of the commer- cial marvels of St. Louis. For five years past the annual sales have not fallen below one and a half mil- lions of dollars, and for 1880 they footed up the princely sum of one million nine hundred and twenty- six thousand dollars. The company occupies a six- story building, with basement, at Washington Avenue and Fifth Street, St. Louis, and here it conducts per- haps the largest wholesale boot and shoe establishment in the city. When asked regarding the secret of his success, Mr. Brown is accustomed to say that there is none, except constant application, a minute looking after details, and incessant watchfulness to prevent leakage and waste. It is no reflection upon the gentle- men associated with him, and who have contributed much to bring about this splendid success, to say that as the active business manager of the firm of Ham- ilton, Brown & Co., the brilliant reputation of the house is largely due to Alanson D. Brown's energy, enterprise, and assiduity.

In one of his business trips to Boston Mr. Brown became acquainted with Miss Ella Gertrude, daughter of Charles C. Bills, a prominent shoe manufacturer of that city, and they were subsequently married. Three children are the result of the union. Mr. Brown is a member of the Third Baptist Church of St. Louis, and endeavors to contribute his share to- wards all the worthy enterprises, religious, charitable, and philanthropic, that appeal for aid. He regards it as a pleasurable duty to support, as far as he can, all projects reasonably calculated to advance the pros- perity of the city of his adoption, and may justly be ranked among its most active and progressive young business men.

Jewelry .- The manufacture and sale of jewelry, which is now one of the important industries of St. Louis, was established at an early period in the his- tory of the town. As far back as April, 1812, Jo- seph Bouju, “ clock and watchmaker, silversmith and jeweler," in Madame Papin's house, opposite Gen. Clark's office, advertised a variety of wares. Mr. Bouju's establishment was not the only one in the town, as we find that Dr. Farrar's store was adver- tised in the same year as being situated below Maj. Christy's tavern, next to Dangin's silversmith's shop. In July, 1817, Charles E. Jeauneret pursued the trade of watchmaker at P. Chouteau's house, and in September, 1817, Israel B. Grant opened a shop next door below Mr. Wilts' store, on Main Street, where he manufactured silver-work and jewelry, keeping also " a constant supply of soup, table, dessert, and teaspoons, gold watch-chains, seals and keys, ear- and finger-rings, bracelets, gold and silver sleeve-buttons, thimbles, hooks and eyes, etc. Engraving and hair- work neatly executed." During the same year Joseplı Bouju had his shop opposite the store of Mr. Wilt. On the 13th of November, 1818, Charles Billon, clock and watch maker and jeweler, informed " the in- habitants of St. Louis and its vicinity that he has commenced business in the house occupied by Mr. Dangin, on Main Street, where he has for sale an as- sortment of gold and silver repeaters, plain gold and silver watches, with an assortment of jewelry, con- sisting of fine gold chains, seals and keys, breastpins, ear-rings, etc., which he will sell on the most ac- commodating terms.

" N.B .- Watches of every description carefully repaired, and engraving exccuted with neatness and dispatch."

Mr. Billon had removed to St. Louis from Phila- delphia, and his location is further described as " Dangin's old stone house." At the same time Henry Gulager carried on the trade of a clock and watch maker " next to the old Indian office in Clark's stone row." On the 11th of August, 1819, Robert Logan, clock and watch maker, advertised his establishment as being located " in Bouju's old place," and on the 18th, Joseph Bouju announced his removal to " his new house" opposite Paul's auction-room. Dec. 23, 1819, Charles Billon gave notice that he had removed to his new establishment on North Main Street, at the corner, opposite the old Gratiot residence.

The trade in jewelry has gone on expanding until now St. Louis surpasses every other city in the West as a market for this branch of business. In 1881 seventcen firms were engaged in the jewelry trade, whose sales aggregated four million dollars per annum.

a. D. Brown

LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY II I MUSS

TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.

1319

In the manufacture of jewelry and silver-plated ware eight firms were engaged, employing sixty hands, and transacting a business of two hundred thousand dollars per annum.

The oldest jewelry firm in the city, and one of the old- est in the West, is that of the E. Jaceard Jewelry Com- pany. It was established in 1829 by Louis Jaecard, who emigrated to America from Switzerland, and who was followed by his nephew Eu- gene in 1837. The house of Louis Jaecard & Co., as it was originally called, was dissolved Dec. 31, 1848, by the withdrawal of Louis Jaceard, who was succeeded by his nephew Eugene, who in 1852 associated A. S. Mermod with him, and in 1855 D. C. Jaceard, the firm then becoming E. Jaccard & Co. In 1864 the partner- ship was dissolved, Messrs. Mermod and D. C. Jaeeard withdrawing and establish- ing another house. Eugene Jaceard continued the origi- nal business until his death, which occurred on the 4th of September, 1871. Mr. Jaeeard, who was fifty-seven years old, was born in Ste. Croix, Switzerland, and, as previously stated, emigrated to this country about 1834. Commeneing life in St. Louis as a journeyman jeweler at nine dollars a week, he worked his way to fortune, gaining for himself at the same time tlie marked re- spect of his fellow-eitizens. He was liberal but unosten- tatious in his charities, a devout member of the Pine Street Presbyterian Church, in which organization he was a deacon, president of the Missouri Loan Bank, and director in the Third National Bank, Continental Life Insurance Company

of New York, and Excelsior Insurance Company of St. Louis. He left a wife, but no children.

RECAP

JA.EGARD'S

CITY TIME

EJACCARD JEWELRY COMPANY. JACCARD'SIWATCHMAKERS. SILVER SMITHS JEWELERS

1829

E. JACCARD JEWELRY COMPANY, Northeast corner Fifth and Olive Sts.

Mr. Jaeeard was sueeeeded in the business in 1871 by his nephew, Eugene J. Cuendet, and the firm is now known as the E. Jaeeard Jewelry Company, of

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which Mr. Cuendet is president. It occupies the handsome building at the northeast corner of Fifth and Olive Streets, fronting one hundred feet on Olive Street and fifty feet on Fifth Street. It is built of Athens marble, five stories in height, and its archi- tecture is graceful and imposing. The cost of the building and ground exceeded three hundred thousand dollars. The stock comprises, in addition to the or- dinary wares of an extensive jewelry establishment, choice importations of pottery, porcelain, rare and valuable gems, bronzes, gilt goods, statuary, French clocks, etc., and the firm makes a specialty of watches and music-boxes, which are manufactured especially for it in Switzerland.

The firm of Mermod, Jaccard & Co. has attained great celebrity in the jewelry trade of the West, and transacts an extensive business. Its founder, D. Constant Jaccard, was born in Ste. Croix, Switzerland, Aug. 22, 1826. He received the usual instruction at the public schools, and when eleven years old began his apprenticeship as a jeweler, being first em- ployed on music-boxes, and afterwards on watches, and dividing his time between his studies and his work at the bench. He remained with his parents until 1845, and then attended the Normal School at Lausanne, where he went through the three-years' course with eighteen months' study, and graduated first in a class of thirty-five. In order to defray his expenses at this institution, he gave two hours' les- sons each day, and during the vacation worked at his bench.

After leaving school he taught one year, and then the political disturbances in France and Switzerland in 1847-48 induced him to accept an invitation from Louis and Eugene Jaccard, his cousins, to come to St. Louis and work with them.

Mr. Jaccard left Ste. Croix April 24, 1848, and arrived in St. Louis on the 15th of July. The trip consumed over eighty days, whereas it takes now less than twenty days.

He went to work immediately upon his arrival, and has resided in St. Louis ever since. During the gold fever of 1849-51 he was often urged by friends to go to California, and though frequently solicited to change his business, he has remained steadfast to his first choice, and his perseverance has been richly rewarded.

His ancestors were French Huguenots, who fled to Switzerland after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, and settled in Ste. Croix, on the very first ground after crossing the frontier. The rest of the family remained in Picardy, France, and spell their name Jacquard, which seems to have been its original

form. The Ste. Croix refugees, however, adopted the spelling Jaccard. From `the Jacquard family came the inventor of the Jacquard loom.

Having from a child suffered from sick headache and facial neuralgia, Mr. Jaccard has been prevented from going much into society or joining social organ- izations. His habits, therefore, have been quiet and retired, but he has nevertheless given, unostenta- tiously, much time and labor to works of beneficence and trust. As treasurer of the Société du sou par semaine, he distributed during the war, in connection with the Sanitary Commission, over twenty thousand dollars to relieve the wants of persons on both sides. In 1868 he was appointed vice-consul of Switzerland at St. Louis, and acted alone as consul for two years, having only lately been relieved, at his own request, on account of ill health.

In politics, Mr. Jaccard is independent and an earn- est advocate of civil service reform. Hc thinks both parties made up of good and bad, and in voting has always selected his candidates with a view of the real fitness of the man for the place, and regardless of the ticket to which he may belong.

In religion, Mr. Jaccard is a Presbyterian. He was formerly an clder in Dr. Brooks' church, and is now a member of Dr. Marquis' Lafayette Park Presbyte- rian Church.

In 1855 he was married to a daughter of J. G. Chipron, brother-in-law to Rev. Dr. Grandpierre, of Paris, France, where Mrs. Jaccard was born. Her family settled in Highland, Ill., in 1848.

On Dec. 31, 1848, as previously stated, the house of Louis Jaccard & Co. was dissolved, Louis selling his half-interest to his nephew Eugene, who carried on the business alone, under the name of E. Jaccard, until 1852, when he took A. S. Mermod as partner, and then in 1855, D. C. Jaccard as a third partner, forming the firm of E. Jaccard & Co. This continued until May 1, 1864, when the partnership was dissolved under the following circumstances :

In 1863, Eugene Jaccard had formed a partner- ship with the two Captains La Barge and Harkness (under the name of La Barge, Harkness & Co.), for the purpose of trading and steamboating on the river. This being outside of the regular jewelry business, produced a disagreement among the members of the firm of E. Jaccard & Co. Mr. Mermod and D. C. Jaccard being apprehensive that their interests would suffer, on May 1, 1864, sold their interest to Eugene Jaccard.

Immediately after their withdrawal Messrs. Mermod and Jaccard purchased an establishment under Odd- Fellows' Hall, corner of Fourth and Locust Streets,

D. C. Faccard

LIBRARY Of THE UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS.

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TRADE, COMMERCE, AND MANUFACTURES.

and taking as partner C. F. Mathey, founded, May. 1, 1864, the firm of D. C. Jaccard & Co., who have done business at this place (Odd-Fellows' Block ) ever since. The firm soon obtained a good business, and throughout the whole of the subsequent period its progress has been steady and uninterrupted. Even during the period of general commercial depression, from 1873 to 1879, the development of its business was unchecked. In 1873 the firm added to its double store on Fourth Street the large building on Locust Street.

In 1873 the name of the firm was changed from D. C. Jaccard & Co. to Mermod, Jaccard & Co., under Odd-Fellows' Hall, Fourth and Locust Streets. This was done in order to prevent mistakes arising from the similarity of the two firm-names, although Eugene Jaccard had then been dead two years, and D. C. Jaccard was the only one of that name per- sonally engaged in the jewelry business in St. Louis. Goodman King had been admitted as a partner some years before, and contributed no small amount of energy and activity to the establishment. When D. C. Jaccard and his partners separated from the house of Eugene Jaccard, they agreed to establish their business on a definite basis, and all signed a written agreement stipulating that they would never speculate in anything; they would never buy more goods than they could pay cash for; they would not sign any notes or have any drafts drawn on them ; that at the end of every month they would carefully examine the con- dition of their affairs, in order to act intelligently in the purchase of goods. The faithfulness with which they adhered to thesc regulations was soon discovered by manufacturers, all of whom became anxious to deal with such a house, and consequently the very best offers have always been at their disposal.

Mermod, Jaccard & Co. have their own manufac- tory for watches (particularly for ladies' watches) at Ste. Croix, Switzerland, Mr. Jaccard's brother Justin being at its head. His cousins are large manufac- turers of music-boxes also at Ste. Croix.

Mermod, Jaccard & Co. have also a house in Paris, No. 32 Faubourg Poissonnière, where Mr. V. Verse- puy, a most expert connoisseur, watches the diamond market for them, and selects all their clocks and ob- jets d'art. Two of the members also visit Europe regularly twice a year for the purchase of new arti- cles in their line. The house has also representatives in Vienna, Bohemia, London, Birmingham, Sheffield, etc., and is so well known in Europe that it can buy whatever it necds quite as well as in New York, such is its standing among manufacturers and those who supply it with its goods. This high reputation, it is

needless to say, it enjoys as well in the United States and Mexico as in more distant lands.

Mr. Mermod and D. C. Jaccard have each a son, Arthur Mermod and Eugene Jaccard, both of whom have for some ycars been employed in the store, and will soon be ready to take up the business and carry it on in accordance with the principles adopted by their fathers when they commenced.

Type Foundries .- The first type foundry in St. Louis was established by A. P. Ladew. Mr. Ladew was born in Albany, N. Y., Sept. 13, 1811, and was the son of Stephen Ladew, a prominent merchant, and at one time private secretary of De Witt Clinton. At the age of thirteen A. P. Ladew was placed in an establishment to learn the trade of type-making and stereotyping, and subsequently worked in the well- known foundry of James Conner in New York. After serving his apprenticeship he formed the acquaintance of L. Johnson, of Philadelphia, a leading typc founder of that day, and under his patronage and that of George Charles he removed to St. Louis in 1838 and established the St. Louis Type Foundry, the firm being George Charles & Co. In its issue of Dec. 1, 1840, one of the St. Louis newspapers said,-

" We received yesterday a specimen of pica type from the foundry of Mr. Charles, who is just opening on Market Street. The specimen before us assures us that this will prove a most valuable acquisition to the printers of the West."

On the 1st of July, 1843, it was announced that A. P. Ladew had become the sole proprietor of the foundry, and on the 12th of February, 1852, A. P. Ladew & Co. informed the public that they had estab- lished a stereotype foundry, at which they were prc- pared to execute all kinds of work usually performed in such establishments. " These gentlemen," added the paper announcing the fact, " are well known to the people of the West as type founders, etc." In 1850 the capital invested in the type foundry was fifty-one thousand eight hundred dollars, employing ten males and ten females, with an annual product of one hun- dred and fifty thousand dollars.

Subsequently the firm became known as Ladew, Peers & Co., and its business developed to very large proportions, the foundry supplying the demand for its products throughout the West. Mr. Ladew was prominently associated with various newspapers and other business enterprises in St. Louis, and was one of the most substantial and influential members of the community.1 He was a director of the St. Louis

1 Mr. Ladew was twice married. His first wife was Miss Cath- erine Leets, of New Jersey, and his second wife Mrs. Lizzie E. Clark, whom he married Sept. 3, 1856.

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HISTORY OF SAINT LOUIS.

Building and Savings Association, member of the City Council, vice-president of the Commercial Insurance Company, and a director in the Bank of St. Louis, besides holding other positions of trust and honor.

There are now (1882) two type foundries in St. Louis,-the St. Louis Type Foundry, conducted by a stock company, of which William Bright is secretary, at the northeast corner of Third and Vine Strects, and the Central Type Foundry, 15 North Third Street.

Lumber .- With a soil so deep and such an abundant supply of water, the forests of Missouri must necds teem with trees and shrubs and vines useful in indus- try or as fruit-producers; and in fact the timber supply of Missouri is enormous, although, as experi- ence has taught, unhappily not inexhaustible. The gigantic sylvan wildernesses both of Brazil and Guiana are not protected against the indiscriminate rapacity of man, who always seems to attack the for- est with the ferocity of an assault upon a hereditary enemy. In the great forests of Missouri a very wide varicty of the useful woods are represented,-oak, hickory, maple, ash, mulberry, locust, linden, poplar, elm, walnut, and pine for carriages, wagons, and agri- cultural implements; pine, linden, poplar, cotton- wood, walnut, cypress, cedar, oak, and gum for houses and other buildings ; walnut, poplar, linden, maple, cherry, coffee-trec, locust, gum, mulberry, tupelo, pine, eypress, cedar, birch, hickory, and oak for cabinet- work ; cedar, locust, oak, hickory, mulberry, and pine for fences ; and Osage orange, thorns, buckthorn, and cedar for hedges. Millions of these varieties of lum- ber are destroyed every year in opening farms, and meanwhile the people of Missouri are importing mil- lions in furniture and agricultural implements and lumber for the various kinds of carpentry. There is poor economy in importing walnut, pine, cherry, pop- lar, birch, maple, oak, linden, and cedar manufactured into furniture from the Ohio and its tributaries when Missourians are destroying upon their farms more and better lumber of the same variety every year.

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History of Saint Louis City and County, from the earliest periods to the present day: including biographical sketches of representative men, Part 72

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898 Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts Number of Pages: 1358

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.H. Everts
Number of Pages: 1358