USA > Tennessee > Davidson County > History of Davidson County, Tennessee, with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 56
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THE DRY-GOODS TRADE .- This business has always been under the control of reliable business men. During the terrible disasters of 1857 there was not a single sus- pension by Nashville merchants, and their credit stood high in the Eastern States throughout the panic. In 1850 there were but three wholesale dry-goods houses in the city,- Morgan & Co., Douglass & Co., and Eakin & Co.,-all of whom continued in business until the war. The sales for 1850 were about $125,000. In 1860 they were about $2,250,000. In 1873 they were about $4,000,000. There are now eleven wholesale and forty-six retail dry-goods dealers in the city. These imported for the first half of the commercial year ending Sept. 1, 1880, goods amount- ing to $5,500,000 in value. The trade extends over Northern Georgia, North Alabama, North Mississippi, and to the West, where the trade was formerly claimed by the merchants of St. Louis.
THE GROCERY TRADE .- Before the opening of the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad and its connections, Nashville received the trade of Middle Tennessee, a little of South Kentucky, and some with wagons from North Alabama. On the completion of the road merchants from East Tennessee, North Georgia, and Alabama increased the trade. Capacious buildings were erected, and the amount
kept in stock vastly increased. From an insignificant trade, hardly employing $100,000 capital in 1850 for both whole- sale and retail, there was employed at the outbreak of the war a capital of over $400,000, extending the trade to Virginia and East Kentucky on the north and Louisiana and Arkansas to the southwest. During the low water in 1859 goods were brought from New Orleans to Memphis by river, thence by rail, and sold more than halfway back to Memphis for the retail trade. The leading lines for 1871 were 14,000 hogsheads and 1800 barrels sugar, 13,000 barrels syrup and molasses, 50,000 bags coffee, with sales amounting to $10,000,000.
The shipment in sugar for the year 1878 was: New Orleans and Porto Rico, hogsheads 2952; refined and hards, barrels 15,492. The shipment of coffee for the year amounted to 29,252 bags. The aggregate value of the sugar and coffee was $1,464,412. The grocery trade for the first half of 1880 was $1,500,000. There are fourteen wholesale and two hundred and eighty-nine retail groceries in the city.
NOTIONS AND WHITE GOODS .- In 1873 the sales by two houses reached $1,300,000. There are now fourteen wholesale notion stores and thirty-nine mixed stores, doing a flourishing business.
DRUGS .- This trade amounted to $900,000 in 1872, and $1,600,000 in 1873. The imports for the first half of the present year were $1,500,000. The city contains six whole- sale and thirty-eight retail stores, besides which there are three manufactories of medicines.
CLOTHING .- In 1860 there were one wholesale and fifteen jobbing and retail clothing-houses. At the close of the war the business amounted to $1,000,000 per annum. In 1871 it footed $600,000 ; in 1873, $1,200,000 ; one-half year in 1880, $1,500,000 from two wholesale and fifteen retail houses.
WHEAT .- The wheat crop handled here previous to the war was estimated at about 2,000,000 bushels. There were three flouring-mills in and near the city in 1861. The num- ber was increased to five soon after the war. There are now eight. Notwithstanding a short crop in 1878, there were 1,225,000 bushels of wheat sold in this market in that year, and 1,800,000 bushels of corn. The wheat handled here has reached 1,800,000 bushels for the first half of 1880 ; corn, 5000 car-loads, valued at $1,000,000.
OATS .- 1873, 100,000 bushels, valued at 850,000 ; 1878, 350,000 bushels, valued at $122,500 ; 1880, first half-year estimated at over 300,000 bushels.
HAY .- There is an immense trade in this market for the article of bale hay, there having been shipped from here for the last year, reported by the Board of Trade, 36,933 bales.
WOOL .- There has been a marked increase in the ship- ment of wool from this market the past year, as also a great improvement in the quality and the condition in which it was marketed. The shipment for the year amounted to 337,000 pounds.
DRIED FRUIT .- The amount of dried fruit shipped from this market for the past year was 1,656,333 pounds. The receipts of this article in this market are increasing every year. It has, in fact, become a source of considerable revenue to many of our smaller class of farmers. Value, $59,689.
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HISTORY OF DAVIDSON COUNTY, TENNESSEE.
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CITY OF NASHVILLE.
PEANUTS .- This is also an article of considerable im- portance as a source of revenue to the smaller class of farmers in Middle Tennessee. The amount shipped the past season from this market amounted to 109,000 bushels, the value of which was $70,850.
MISCELLANEOUS .- Potatoes, 9005 barrels; cheese, 13,- 100 boxes sold ; candles, 10,100 boxes.
EGGs .- Nashville receives an average of from 25,000 to 30,000 dozen eggs a week, at an average price of from 10 to 12 cents per dozen. The receipts from Georgia and Alabama average 10,000 dozens per week for the first four months of the year. The main shipments are to New York until May, when they find a Southern market for the re- mainder of the year.
TRADE-LIST.
The following trade-list will furnish an idea of the im- mense business of Nashville, and its importance to the surrounding country :
MERCANTILE.
Branch of Trade.
No. of Dealers.
Branch of Trade.
No. of Dealers.
Agricultural implements ...
11
Hides
4
Artificial flowers.
1
Hats and caps, wholesale
3
Artificial limbs
1
Iron ..
Bakers, wholesale.
7
Iron railing.
Bakers, retail
11
Ice.
Junk
Jewelers
17
2
Leather and findings.
4 3
Butchers.
35
Lime and cement
Lumber
13 2
Cigars and tobacco, whole- sale
6
Musical instruments.
Cigars and tobacco, retail.
15
Clothing, wholesale ..
2
Clothing, retail
15
Oysters, game, and fish
8
Coal
24 Paints, wholesale. 2 Paper
4
Coffee-roasters.
5
Pictures and frames
5
Confectioners ..
19
Produce
Dentists' supplies.
1
Railroad tickets.
Druggists, wholesale ..
6
Real estate
Druggists, retail
38
Stationery
17
Dry goods, wholesale.
11
Sand and gravel ..
2
Dry-goods, retail
46 Salt.
2
Sewing-machines
8
11 Steam-engines.
4
7 Surgical instruments.
1 Ten-dealers
3
Telephones.
1
Florists ..
Tobacco-brokers.
4
Fruits, wholesale.
4
Tobacco-dealers
5
Fruits, foreign
2
Tobacco-factors
4
Fruits and confectionery. 17 Tobacco-stemmers.
1
Toys, wholesale
1
39 Toys, retail
4
Grain
9 Trimmings
1
Groceries, wholesale .. 14 Wall paper.
5
Groceries, retail. 289
17
Hardware, wholesale. 16
6
Harness and saddles .. 12
Woodenware.
1
Horse-shoes.
2
Yarn
1
OTHER BUSINESS PURSUITS AND PROFESSIONS.
Attorneys-at-law (firms) ..... Architects
129
Livery stables.
28
Auction and commission
Nurseries
4
houses.
3
Notaries public.
8 2
Carpenters and
builders
1
(firms)
21
Plumbers.
9
Civil engineers.
6
Plasterers ..
There are besides six other mills, located as follows :
Collection agents.
2
24 Printers ..
15
Express companies ..
3
homeopathic .. 5
Grain-elevator.
1 Restaurants 13
Hotels ...
19 Saloons
62
Infirmary
1
Stock-yards 5
Insurance agents 16
MANUFACTURES.
Bags
1
Mills (millwright).
1
Baskets
2
Nickel-platers
1
Bee-hives.
1
Oil (cotton-seed)
2
Bird-cages
1 Organs.
1
Blank-books
3
Paints
1
Book-binderies
4
Paper bags.
1
Boiler-makers
Photographs
5
Boots and shoes
2
Pictures and frames.
5
Boxes, wooden
2
Portrait-painters
7
Boxes, paper.
2
Pipe-maker
1
Brick
1
Planed
lumber (planing-
Brooms
2
mills)
6
Builders' materials.
8
Potteries
2
Carriages
11
Powder (gunpowder) ...
1
Chewing-gum
2
Pork-packers
3
Cigars
7
Publishing-houses
7
Coopers
6 Pumps
1
Cotton-factory
1 Regalias
1
Distilleries
4 Rubber stamps ..
1
Dyers.
3 Roofers ( layers of roofs).
1
Electric batteries.
1
Saddle-trees
1
Elevators
1
Sheet-iron work
3
Engines ...
1
Shoes (custom).
56
Flour and feed.
8
Shoe-factories
2
Foundries
6
Show-cases
3
Furniture ..
14
Soap
4
Furniture-repairers ..
3
Tags
1
Gas (Gas-Light Co.)
1
Tailoring (merchant)
8
Hair goods.
2
Tanners
4
Looking-glasses.
3
Trunks
2
Lumber (saw-mills)
5
Undertaking
4
Machinery and repairers
6 Vinegar
1
Mattresses.
2 Wagons.
7
Medicines
3 Watch-cases
1
Mill stones ..
1 Wire-work
1
TANNERIES .- The Nashville Tannery, on the Nolensville turnpike, was in operation before the war, giving employ- ment to a large number of men and employing a capital of over $200,000. Their orders were filled for the New York, Charleston, S. C., Savannah, New Orleans, Chicago, and Milwaukee markets. This was then the largest tannery in the Southern States.
THE JACKSON FLOURING-MILLS, on College Hill, built by John J. McCann in 1868, since remodeled by E. T. Noel, have five run of French burr-stones of 54 inches diameter cach, with a capacity of 400 barrels of flour per day, and are provided with the best cleansing and grading appliances.
THE ELEVATOR MILLS, E. T. Nocl, proprietor, were located near the North Carolina and St. Louis Railroad, between Ewing and Vine Streets, in 1874, in connection with a grain-elevator, from which the mill is named. The elevator is 100 feet high, 33 feet wide at the base, and, with lower rooms attached, is 125 feet in length. There are 20 bins, 10 by 16 feet, and 46 feet deep each, so ar- ranged that a complete circuit can be made by all the grain from one bin to any other. The mill adjoining furnishes the motive power. The warehouse is of wood, 40 by 200 feet, and three stories high. The bran is propelled through a pipe 370 feet to this repository by means of a fan driven at high speed. The power is furnished by a 160 horse- power Corliss engine. The two mills and the up-town office were connected by a private telegraph-line before the days of the telephone.
CEDAR STREET MILLS, C. Powers, proprietor, Cedar corner of Park Street.
Commission-merchants. Dentists.
24
Physicians 114
CHURCH STREET MILLS, Mullen & Shane, Church Street corner of Front.
CITY FLOURING-MILLS, established before the war;
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Boots and shoes, wholesale .. Boots and shoes, retail Bottlers
7
2
Carpets and oil-cloths. China, glass, and queensware 3 Millinery, wholesale. Millinery, retail. 18 3
Notions, wholesale Oils ..
4
2
Coke ..
29 3 15
Furnishing goods, gentle- men's
1 Stoves and tinware
Furnishing goods, ladies'. Feed.
11 1 2
Fertilizers
Plour
6
General or mixed stores, not groceries
Wines and liquors, wholesale. Wood for fuel.
1
Bankers and brokers.
7 Oculists
Paver of streets, etc ..
2 Claim agents
4
Publishers of newspapers and periodicals. 31
14
Locks and guns (repairers) .. 8
Umbrellas.
1
17
2
3 Plows
1
Candy
Mercantile agency
5
222
HISTORY OF DAVIDSON COUNTY, TENNESSEE.
three run of stones for flour; McIver & Lipscomb ; on North Mclemore near Cedar Street.
MILL CREEK FLOURING-MILLS, Calvin Morgan, pro- prietor, 108 and 110 South Market Street.
NEW ERA MILLS, New Era Company, proprietors, near the Decatur depot, south of the cemetery.
RIVERSIDE MILLS, Craighead, Ford & Co., proprictors, 76 South First Street.
The product of these mills is all of a superior quality, and finds a ready market at prices which prove its worth.
THE TENNESSEE MANUFACTURING COMPANY .- This company was organized for the manufacture of cotton Sept. 20, 1869, by the election of the following officers and board of directors : Samuel D. Morgan, President ; A. G. Adams, James Whitworth, R. H. Gardner, Thomas Plater, Michael Burns, W. D. Talbox, Samuel Prichitt, and K. J. Morris, all of whom were of the leading financiers and capitalists of Middle Tennessee.
W. B. Taber, an experienced manufacturer, was chosen superintendent, and James Plunkett secretary and treas- urer. Contracts were entered into Jan. 1, 1870, and the work of building carried forward so rapidly under the im- mediate supervision of Messrs. Morgan, Whitworth, Gard- ner, and Adams, president and executive committee, that a brick mill-building was presented to the stockholders Aug. 3, 1871, nearly complete, four stories high, besides the basement, with all the necessary outbuildings for the accommodation of 13,820 spindles, 400 looms, and its at- tendant preparatory and finishing machinery. One hun- dred and fifty looms and 7500 spindles were immediately put in operation. The power was furnished by two 200 horse-power steam-engines. This was considered by prac- tical men of the East as a model mill. With a paid-up capital of over $300,000, operations were commenced be- fore Jan. 1, 1872, manufacturing standard sheetings, drills, and shirtings. These goods were most favorably received by the trade, and at once were placed in the front rank among the various brands of cotton goods manufactured in the United States. In October, Mr. Morgan retired from the presidency, and was succeeded by Hon. James Whitworth.
Under his management the company purchased and paid for the balance of their machinery, and commenced the manufacture of heavy brown sheetings, which soon attained a demand beyond the capacity of the mills to supply. These brands were known as Nashville 4/4-2.85 Ib sheeting; Nashville 7/8-3.35 Ib sheeting ; Nashville-2.82 1b drills ; Rock City 4/4-3.35 Ib sheeting; and Rock City shirting, weighing 4.25 1b. For the year ending Sept. 1, 1873, this factory consumed 2328 bales of cotton, weighing 1,106,465 pounds, costing an average of 15 cents per pound. From this cotton there were made, during the same period, 1,918,406 yards of 4/4 sheetings; 20,000 yards panolas ; 312,384 yards of 7/8 sheetings; 315,117 yards of 7/8 drills ; and 30,254 yards of batting, remnants of cloth and waste amounting to 107,076 pounds. The actual loss in manufacture was 36,272 pounds. The cost of manufactur- ing was $90,159.14, equal to 10.1 cents per pound, or 3.42 cents per yard. This work gave employment to 202 female and 66 male operatives, at an average price of about $5 each per week. The entire assets, including 14 acres of
land, were then 8469,297.29, and the liabilities were $149,110.19, with a capital stock of $320,187.10. The net profits for that year were over $41,300. Seventy-five thousand dollars were invested in additional machinery, in- creasing the number of operatives to 400 persons. This factory continued to run on full time throughout the gold panic ensuing without a reduction of wages. Thirteen bales of cotton are consumed daily, with a success equal to that of its first years, and a second cotton-factory is now being founded, upon the assurances made by the success of the Tennessee Manufacturing Company.
WOOD & SIMPSON's engine and general repair-shop com- menced operations in 1859, under the management of the present proprietors, B. G. Wood and Thomas S. Simpson. Besides a full complement of machinery for all kinds of shop-work, they have extensive blacksmith- and boiler-shops, and there is also, under the separate management of Mr. Wood, a foundry, machine, and sheet-iron working-shops, the whole furnishing employment to 35 skilled mechanics. Steam- and water-pipes, tubular boilers, and all kinds of machinery made here find market in the rapid development of Tennessee and the surrounding States.
THE ENGINE-WORKS of John B. Roman, 94 South Cherry Street, have connected with them an extensive foun- dry. Besides these, there are the foundries of O'Connor & Co., Perry & Durmont, and Stewart & Bruckner, the sheet- iron working establishments of W. A. Miller and H. Mc- Caslin, and the extensive railroad shops at the Chattanooga depot, whose work is not a part of the city trade, though furnishing a large number of operatives with constant em- ployment.
These railroad shops comprise the engine repair-shops, from which some good locomotive engines have also been sent forth new, an extensive round-house, and, a block to the south, a car-shop, where the company's cars are made and repaired. This is under the management of James Cullen, Esq., superintendent for the company.
PREWITT, SPURR & Co .- The wooden-ware and lumber manufactory of PREWITT, SPURR & Co., nearly opposite the steamboat-landing, surrounded by huge rafts of logs on one side and grassy fields and suburban residences of Edge- field on the other, is one of the most prominent industries of the city. The grounds comprise 28 acres, half of which are occupied by the lumber-yard and buildings, and having a river front of 1220 feet.
The buildings include saw-mill, 28 by 108, planing-mill and stave-saw department, 40 by 130, and bucket-factory, 40 by 130, in second story, and varnish-room, 28 by 108, in second story, three dry-kilns, 20 by 24, two stories high, and a warehouse, 40 by 80, two stories and basement.
Their productions are red-cedar buckets, churns, and cans, oak well-buckets, ash-ware, packing-buckets of white wood, and all kinds of lumber. One hundred and twenty- five men and boys are employed, making from 800 to 1000 pieces and sawing from 20,000 to 25,000 feet of lumber daily. Their supplies of timber are obtained from Stone's River, Caney Fork and Cumberland Rivers. Their ship- ments of lumber are about one car-load daily, besides sup- plying their local trade. Their manufactured goods find sale in more than half the States of the Union, including
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PREWITT SPURR & CU WORDEN WARE & LUMBER.
PREWITT SALIDO . PO MANUFACTURERS OF JAPAN
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STORE ROOM
ELEVATED RAIL ROAD
PUMP DEPARTMENT.
OFFICE SOUTHERN PUMP CO'S WORKS,
1
E.P. SMITH PRES.
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STABLES
STORE HOUSE.
RPENTER SHOP. SASH, BLIND AND DOOR FACTORY SHVILLE TENN.
FINISHING BUILDING AND PUMP ROOM
R.M.LAFFERTY H. L. HALL
DIRECTORS
G.W. BLISS, SEC.
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CITY OF NASHVILLE.
the markets of New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Chicago, St. Louis, Cincinnati, Charleston, Atlanta, New Orleans, etc. The machinery includes all the modern appliances for the business, and is driven by two engines of 50 and 80 horse- power respectively. The business was established in 1866, and has since furnished constant employment to a large number of operatives in cutting, running, and sawing the rough lumber before it entered the works proper, as well as the skilled operatives inside.
THE EDGEFIELD AND NASHVILLE MANUFACTURING COMPANY was incorporated Nov. 12, 1874, with a paid-up capital of one hundred thousand dollars. E. R. Driver was first president, J. M. Sharpe treasurer, George W. Jenkins secretary, Charles Rich superintendent of the furniture department, and W. K. Miller in charge of the warerooms. The system adopted was to make the stockholders and workmen the same persons, and thus secure economy in all branches. Their building is a large brick, 45 by 140 feet in dimensions and five stories in height, situated on South First and Main Streets, Edgefield, and a large saw- and plan- ing-mill upon the bank of the river. Their yards cover ten acres of ground. This factory produces all kinds of bed- room, kitchen, dining-room, and office furniture, desks, counters, school furniture, book-cases, church pews, besides sash, blinds, mouldings, doors, etc., including the very finest and most costly workmanship. Ninth Ward and Fogg school-rooms were equipped with furniture from this fac- tory. They carry on an immense trade, competing directly with the cities of Louisville and Cincinnati for the more distant markets. About two hundred men are employed. In February, 1880, the roof of the main building was dis- placed by the gale, causing a loss of some sixteen thousand dollars. An office was soon after opened at 36 North Col- lege Street, Nashville, and connected with the mills and factory by telephone. The officers are J. M. Sharpe, Presi- dent; W. K. Miller, Secretary ; Charles Rich, Superin- tendent.
THE SOUTHERN PUMP COMPANY .- This company was formed early in 1873 by the following-named gentlemen, E. P. Smith, R. M. Lafferty, S. W. Freeman, for the pur- pose of manufacturing wood pumps, and to take advantage of the quantities of white wood or yellow poplar lumber, which is a very sweet wood in water, and is the only wood suitable for the manufacture of pumps. The first of the year 1874 the parties made an addition to their number of George W. Bliss and Henry L. Hall. The first of the fol- lowing year, 1875, their business having increased very rapidly, and finding it difficult to procure the amount of lumber necessary for their use, decided to erect a factory and saw-mill combined, and purchased fourteen acres of land on the Cumberland River and Louisville and Nashville Railroad, and erected thereon a two-story building, one hundred and six by one hundred and twelve feet, and a boiler-room, engine-room, and machine-shop, twenty-five by one hundred and six feet, fireproof. Also a store-room and finishing-shop of seventy-five by one hundred feet. They also put in an engine capable of giving three hundred horse-power, three circular saw-mills, and four Wyckoff patent pump augers.
The logs for stocking the mills have been brought by
this enterprising company from the upper Cumberland, above the falls, being run singly through the falls and rapids, then caught in booms at Point Isabel, and rafted down to Nashville, some four hundred miles. These gen- tlemen have been the first parties to successfully achieve this experiment, it having been previously considered imprac- ticable.
The pumps manufactured by the company are secured by various patents, the inventions of Mr. R. M. Lafferty, one of the members of the firm, and they have the ex- clusive right of their sale in the United States.
On the first of January, 1880, the other members of the firm purchased the interest of S. W. Freeman, and were incorporated under the name of the Southern Pump Com- pany,-the name which they have always borne. They have steadily added to their business, until at the present time they are manufacturing all the kinds of lumber of this section, in addition to pumps, and tubing, sash, doors, blinds, moulding, picture-frames, and wooden boxes, and are shipping their wares to nearly every State in the Union. At present they are running their factory night and day, it being supplied with electric lights, and employ in their various departments about two hundred and twenty-five men. They manufacture on an average one pump every two minutes,-a greater capacity probably than that of any other wooden pump factory in the United States. They have recently added three new dry-kilns, of the Excelsior pattern, capable of drying forty-six thousand feet of lumber per day. E. P. Smith is president, and George W. Bliss secretary.
FURNITURE .- While limited space forbids the individual mention of even the most prominent of the fourteen ex- tensive furniture-manufactories in Nashville, an idea of the extent of this interest may be had from the fact that a single company in 1872-the Tennessee Chair- and Furni- ture-Manufacturing Company-was formed with a capital of $150,000. Their shipments within two years extended to New York, Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and even to San Francisco, Cal., and throughout the Gulf States. The extensive forests of walnut and other woods of Kentucky and Tennessee adapted to this business. find their natural market here, and manufacturers find this, with its railroad and river transportation, an especially favored shipping point for their wares.
Besides the mills mentioned, there is the Indiana Lumber Company,-who commenced business in Edgefield in 1876 with a capital of $50,000, and furnish constant employ- ment to some thirty operatives,-the mills of Lieberman, Loveman & O'Brien, and the Cumberland Lumber Com- pany's mills, all doing a large business in cutting away the extensive forests of the upper Cumberland, and increasing the business development of Nashville.
THE BAG-FACTORY of Ogden Bros., at 17 and 19 South Market Street, like the four box-factories, is an outgrowth of the immense manufacturing business and its require- ment for thousands of shipping packages weekly. The bag-factory produces paper and cotton flour-sacks, supplying many of the Indiana and Northwestern millers. Burlaps, corn- and wheat-bags, seamless grain-bags, paper grocers' counter-bags, and all the grades of wrapping-paper arc iu-
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HISTORY OF DAVIDSON COUNTY, TENNESSEE.
cluded in their trade. Their burlap trade extends through- out the Southern and Gulf States. Fifteen thousand cot- ton and 10,000 paper bags can be made daily. Forty thou- sand impressions per day are made by their printing-presses. This industry was commenced by the present proprietors, A. S. & William H. Ogden, in 1866.
LEATHER .- The chief tannery is that of W. G. Cun- ningham & Co., whose manufacture is harness leather from foreign hides.
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