USA > Tennessee > Davidson County > Nashville > Polk's Nashville (Davidson county, Tenn.) city directory 1865 > Part 4
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Another item of some importance is the insurance which is saved, as well as the expense and loss of time which attends a trip to the North. Neither is there the vexations delays which goods are often subjected to in the transit from Eastern cities to the towns of Tennessee, South- ern Kentucky, North Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, Arkansas, etc. And, then, again, "as the trade increases, and our city expands, new facilities are being constantly offered, and the inducements become stronger and stronger, from year to year. It may be said, without exaggeration, that every article may be found here to suit the diversi- fied tastes and necessities of all the various sections which are geo- graphically dependent upon us, and that here dealers will be found in all departments prepared to sell upon as reasonable terms, and at as low prices, as those of the Eastern eities. In every department of trade and mechanics, dealers and manufacturers may be found in this city, including dry goods of all descriptions, clothing, boots, shoes, hats and trunks, china, glass, queens and Britannia wares, drugs and medicines, hardware and cutlery, books and stationery, groceries, liquors, manufactured tobacco and cigars, jewelry, etc .; while our agricultural implement manufactories, our founderies, bookbinderies and printing establishments, carriage builders, marble and lumber yards, saddlers, tailors, etc., are all well prepared to fill orders to any extent upon as acceptable terms as those of any city."
When the carriage facilities furnished by the railroads radiating from this point in every direction-the purchase of goods by our merchants from the manufacturers-the low rents here compared with New York (by which profits are regulated), the terms of sale offered, the saving of time and money involved in a northern trip, are taken into the account -- the case is a plain one that it is far preferable for the country merchant of this and adjoining States, to buy his stock of goods in this market rather than to go further east. A retail mer-
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chant in any of the localities above-named, can do better in this city, all things considered, than at any other point. If any doubt it, let them come and make the trial, and we vouch for it that their doubts will be speedily removed.
The dry goods jobbing trade has grown rapidly in this city in the last few years. A glance through any one of the leading establish- ments will disclose the fact that the proprietors are prepared to offer the strongest inducements to buyers. The stocks, selected by as expert and experienced buyers as any in the Union, under the spur of an active competition, will be found superior in point of taste, com- prehensiveness, and general acceptability and adaptability to the wants of the country, to the stocks of any jobbing houses in the Eastern cities. A retail stock may be selected here with a fraction of the labor and expense which attend its selection in New York, Philadel- phia and Boston, and be found, when selected, better adapted to the wants of the buyers. The goods, indeed, are selected for the mer- chant, in a great measure, and he is thus enabled to act more deliber- ately, more self-possessed, and under circumstances more agreeable in every respect, than when thrown in the midst of the din and confu- sion of New York, obliged to pick up a little here and there, and often buying in opposition to his cooler judgment.
That this matter is becoming plain and well understood by country merchants, is proved by the quantity of goods sold here now as com- pared with past years. In the year 1850, there were but three whole- sale dry goods houses in the city, doing a business of about $125,000 each, in a year. Now there are twelve establishments of that descrip- tion, which are exclusively wholesale, some of whom do a business of half a million of dollars a year. The total amount of dry goods sold at wholesale, annually, in this market, is not short of two and a quar- ter millions of dollars. There are also three establishments which are exclusively devoted to wholesale variety goods; four exclusive wholesale boot and shoe houses, and nine others, in the same line, that do business both at wholesale and retail; and three dry goods houses that also keep boots and shoes, and hats and caps, and one exclusive hat, eap and bonnet house.
Several wholesale houses also keep ready-made clothing. There is one exclusive wholesale clothing house, and some fifteen that both wholesale and retail. There are two wholesale queensware houses, and a number of others that sell both at wholesale and retail; one exclusive wholesale hardware house, and seven others that both
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wholesale and retail ; two exclusive wholesale drug houses, and some ten or twelve others that wholesale as well as retail.
WHOLESALE HARDWARE.
The hardware trade of Nashville is established upon a basis of the right kind, and there is, perhaps, as much permanent capital employed as in any interest in our city, in proportion to the necessities and demands of the trade. We have one house which is exclusively a wholesale establishment, and there are seven others which are devoted both to wholesaling and retailing. Of these houses (all of which are managed by experienced business men), the greater part, and perhaps all, are direct importers of all the foreign-made hard- ware they offer for sale; and here lies the greatest advantage which this department of trade in Nashville claims over that of many other places ; and it is for this reason, particularly, the hardware and cutlery dealers of our city are able to compete successfully with the same class of trade in any other city in the Union.
It must be remembered that Nashville is a port of entry, and there is a regular Collector of the Port stationed here, whose duty it is to collect the duties on all foreign goods imported to this point-hence the hardware merchant, or any other, desiring to import foreign goods direct, has but to order them to this port from Europe or elsewhere, and without further trouble on his part, they are delivered to him under the supervision of the Collector here, upon his paying the custom duties, in the same manner as they are paid in the seaports.
Hence, as many of the most important articles in this line of trade are of foreign manufacture, such as table and pocket cutlery, guns, chains, and a thousand other articles, it will be seen how important it is to our hardware merchants at Nashville to be able to import their goods direct from the foreign manufacturers; thus saving the profit that would otherwise necessarily be paid to the importer at New York or elsewhere. This is a fact which we believe is not generally understood by our merchants in this section of the country, who pass through Nashville, and make their purchases in Philadelphia or New York. Many persons, we are convinced, are incredulous on this point, and in these times, when other cities south of us are encouraging the feeling which is to some extent prevalent in parts of the South, viz .: that merchants should buy at least all foreign goods nearer home, and thus keep at home the importer's profit on the same, Nashville desires to put in her claims for consideration. The hardware merchants here,
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without desiring to encourage any sectional political feeling, desire it to be understood that they are direct importers, and have been for years past-in confirmation of which any "doubting Thomas" is referred to our estimable fellow-citizen, Jesse Thomas, Esq., Collector of the Customs at this port.
WHOLESALE DRUGS, ETC.
There is a heavy capital invested in the wholesale drug trade of Nashville, and the inducements offered here are hardly surpassed in the Union. An examination of the stocks and prices of our whole- sale druggists will satisfy country dealers, convenient to this market, that it is not necessary to go to the expense and loss of time required in visiting Eastern markets for the purpose of replenishing their stocks.
The wholesale trade of the city may be summed up as follows : There are twenty wholesale grocery houses, and nearly as many that both wholesale and retail-some of these are also extensively engaged in the liquor trade. Three exclusive wine and liquor houses, and several that both wholesale and retail. We have two very exten- sive drug houses, and ten others that wholesale as well as retail. There are twelve exclusive dry goods houses; three of exclusive variety goods ; four exclusive boots and shoes, and some nine others that wholesale and retail, while three that are in the dry goods trade also keep large stocks of boots and shoes; others boots, shoes and hats, and several that combine with dry goods ready-made clothing; one exclusive hat, cap and bonnet house; one exclusive ready-made clothing house, and some fifteen others that both wholesale and retail; one heavy hardware house, and nine others that do a jobbing as well as a retail business; four house-furnishing goods establishments that wholesale extensively, and also sell at retail, and five or six others that do a considerable jobbing business; two very extensive queens- ware and crockery houses, and two others that both wholesale and retail; two houses in the iron trade, and one that does quite a large business at wholesale as well as retail; one heavy leather house; two sced and agricultural implement houses, and two others doing a large business; two houses that both wholesale and retail stocks for carriage and harness makers; and many other houses in various kinds of business that are in the wholesale as well as retail trade.
WHOLESALE GROCERY TRADE.
Probably in no department of business has the enterprise and "go-
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aheaditiveness " of the Nashville merchants accomplished so much as in the grocery business. Prior to the opening of the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad, and its connections, our city was the recipient of the trade of Middle Tennessee, a little of Southern Kentucky, while the occasional visit of a straggling wagon from North Alabama, kept the grocery merchant of that day from forgetting that there was such a country as North Alabama. At that day (and it is quite recent) the business was a very insignificant one, pursued by a very few persons, and giving employment to only small amount of capital. Ou the completion of the railroad, however, it was manifest that a new order of things had been inaugurated-that the grocery business was hence- forth to be the main department of trade here. Merchants from East Tennessee, from North Georgia and North Alabama, made their appearance on our streets in quest of groceries. Our merchants, animated by a desire to accommodate, and secure the increased trade offered them of those rich regions, met the increased demand with suitable supplies; invested additional capital, and by a liberal policy convinced them that it was to their interest to buy here. Public attention began to be called to the increasing importance of the trade by the throng of drays passing daily to the depot, loaded with groceries. New houses were established, costly and capacious build- ings were ereeted, in keeping with the increased demands of the busi- ness. New sections of country, rich in resources, were made tributary to Nashville, till, from an insignificant trade, employing hardly $100,000 of capital in 1849-50, and done only by a few houses, we find, by careful investigation, and from reliable data, that there are now about twenty wholesale grocery houses in the city, besides a much larger number of those who both wholesale and retail, giving employ- ment to a capital of not less than $4,000,000, and trading regularly with Middle Tennessee, East Tennessee to the Virginia line, a consid- erable portion of West Tennessee, almost all of Southern Kentucky, with a heavy up-river trade in Eastern Kentucky, with North Alabama, North Georgia and much of Middle Georgia. While in the liquor department of the grocery trade, our rectifiers sell their goods still farther south into Georgia and Alabama, and find an exten- sive mart for " Newsom " and "Robertson County" (household words) in all parts of Mississippi, Louisiana and Arkansas.
Nashville is certainly the cheapest grocery market in all the South- west. Her heavy capital enables her to offer inducements which are out of the reach of her less favored rivals, while the enterprise of her
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merchants is continually pushing forward, and extending the area of her grocery trade.
Only two years ago the grocery merchants, during an unprecedented low stage of water in the Cumberland, brought their heavy groceries from New Orleans to Memphis by river, thence by rail, and sold them again to merchants more than half way back to Memphis. In view of the energy and enterprise manifested by this class of our merchants, we confidently predict a continued increase of trade for them in the future, in keeping with that of the past. It is believed that the com- pletion of the Nashville and North-western Railroad will add the trade of the richest portions of West Tennessee to our city. So mote it be.
RETAIL TRADE OF THE CITY.
It is not to be expected that a detailed statement can be made of the retail trade here, in its various departments. Such a paper, fully elaborated, would, by far, too greatly transcend the limits not already occupied in this work, delay its appearance, and demand a personal sacrifice of time and means which can not now be entertained. Our patrons and readers will be content, we are certain, with a general outline of this trade, furnishing an indication of its extent and importance.
The retail dry goods trade of this city is immense. It not only supplies the city and county demand, but the inducements which it offers bring hither thousands upon thousands of dollars from all portions of Middle Tennessee, and from localities in other States, which are made tributary to this market, by means of convenient railroad communication. Every species of goods, plain and common, to the most superb and costly fabrics, are to be obtained here, at prices which vary but little from Eastern retail figures, and, we believe, every article known can here be found. The retail dry goods mer- chants of this city are, as a body, a very intelligent class of men, and constitute an element in our midst which adds much to the enterprise, prosperity and healthy growth of the city. They will not suffer, in comparison, in intelligence or business qualifications, with those of any other point. This trade is represented by about fifty houses.
MANUFACTURES.
Although there is no inconsiderable amount of capital employed in various kinds of manufactures in this city, yet the initiative has hardly been taken in that extensive system which will ultimately be
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carried on here. Hundreds of thousands of dollars are annually paid, in this market, for articles manufactured out of the State, which could be made here, and which will, we trust, at no distant day, be produced by Nashville mechanics, artisans and manufacturers.
From careful inquiry and comparison, it is plain that living expenses here, in the aggregate, are not greater than in other manu- facturing towns, and indeed below what they are in some that might be named. The raw material for various kinds of manufactures are bountiful in our midst, capital is abundant, while fuel is as cheap as it is in the majority of those towns from which we obtain many of the articles that enter largely into our commerce. In this connection, it is proper to remark, that we need more small, comfortable houses, for the accommodation of mechanics; while an improved system of cultivation by the great majority of those who vend agricultural pro- ducts in this market, would render their farming operations far more profitable, even at lower prices. A question of political economy is here involved, the elimination of which might not be uninteresting, but such is not the object or intent of this article, and we leave it for those to follow out, whose tastes and inclinations may lead them to do so.
It is an axiom, as true as trite, that no city has been or can be permanently prosperous withont manufactures. A prosperity based exclusively upon a commercial business, must necessarily be epheme- ral. A city which, for instance, depends upon any one or more of the great agricultural staples for support, business and growth, is liable to become paralyzed in her energies and interests, not only by failure in the production of such staples, but from their diversion to other points whose eligibility gives them the advantage and preference as markets. Such also are the fluctuations in the price of articles of produce that no certainty of successful operations can be relied upon, and where uncertain, feverish and exciting speculation underlies the business of any community or city, there is no guarantee of permanent prosperity ; whereas, where manufacturing is carried on successfully, there is a steady, healthful and substantial growth.
It is evident that our people are waking up to the importance of this subject ; as an evidence of it, since this publication has been in press, several manufacturing establishments have gone into operation, and others are contemplated with every indication of success.
Of late, an impetus has been given to manufacturing interests at the South which never before has been felt. Mills and factories for
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the manufacture of cotton, woolen and linen fabries, have been and are being established at various points in several of the Southern States, and although the disturbing causes which gave rise to these enterprises are to be deplored, there is some satisfaction afforded in contemplating the fact that the controversy, which has been going on, has not been altogether profitless to this section of the country. A movement is now afoot to establish a cotton factory in this city. It would seem that there is no valid reason why such a mill can not be established and carried on here successfully, as both the raw materials and the market for manufactured goods are here, at our very door. The cotton supply is almost infinite, yet the demand for manufactured cotton fabrics is in the same ratio, and while the raw material would cost the manufacturer here less than it does his Eastern rival at his mill, the kind of labor employed costs no more here than it does in New England, for the operatives are principally females and children, who otherwise have no employment, and would be glad to get it at the prices which prevail in the factories of the East. It is to be hoped, the project spoken of will be carried out, and that not many months will elapse before the hum of many spindles and the noise of many shuttles may be heard in our midst.
In connection with cotton manufactories, there is little doubt that others would be established for the manufacture of lubricating oil, and oil cake, from the seed, both of which, judiciously managed, could be made highly profitable.
There are many other manufacturing enterprises which might be established immediately, requiring but little capital, that would, without doubt, prove highly remunerative. Why can not soaps, candles, blacking, etc., be made here as well as elsewhere ? We believe the day is not far distant when all these and many others may be found here, and we look confidently to that bright coming and swift-footed future when Nashville will stand before the country as the great manufacturing mart for the vast and rich territory which is legitimately tributary to her.
Nashville continued to enjoy this prosperity up to the capture of Fort Donelson, by the National troops. The war had not been felt here up to that period. Since then the trade of the city has been com- paratively insignificant ; but, as the Union army advanced southward, trade has increased, and now a considerable amount of business is transacted by our merchants, but it is mainly in a retail way. The number of business houses has greatly increased, but the volume of
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business has not. As facilities for communication with the country are opened up, trade will continue to increase, and when the country has recovered from the effects of the war, Nashville will undoubtedly enjoy even a greater prosperity than that of former years.
THE WATER-WORKS.
It is of the highest importance to every community to have a boun- tiful supply of good and wholesome water-that beverage so freely bestowed by God himself to " nourish and invigorate his creatures." Villages and hamlets are located on account of the supply of water, and the better supplied they are with this element, the sooner they become towns and cities. Nashville was located on its present rocky site solely on account of water privileges. The founders of the city could have made a town where South Nashville now is, much easier and with less expense, with smoother streets and more level avenues, had it not been for Judge McNairy's spring on the north, Wilson's spring in Barrow's Grove, and the then fine spring at the foot of Spring street on the bank of the river. Thousands upon thousands of dollars have been expended on these rocky and uneven streets, which might have been avoided, had it not been for these water faeil- ities. In fact, in the early days of the city, it was an exceedingly doubtful problem whether or not a city could be made on the spot designated to commemorate the name and fame of the brave General Nash. It was for years " nip and tuck " between Palmyra, Haysboro' and Nashville, as to which should take precedence in the race for " city " honors. Finally, the latter prevailed, and the two former have been comparatively forgotten. As the town increased, the pub- lic interests required water in a more convenient manner than by sending to either of the springs for it. Temporary and simple Water- works were resorted to, but soon abandoned, as not being adequate to supply the public demand. In the course of time, the present site of the Water-works was chosen, and the city commenced in earnest to ercet a reservoir, secure a steam engine, etc. The undertaking was a magnificent projeet, worthy of the liberal hearts of those who urged its erection, and of those into whose lands the destinies of the city were for the time being intrusted. The reservoir was built, if we are not mistaken, by William Shields, under the direction and manage- ment of A. Stein, engineer. 1
The Water-works were completed in the autumn of 1833, and in anticipation of the event, John M. Bass, then an Alderman, intro- 5
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duced the following preamble and resolution, which were adopted by the Mayor and Aldermen, to-wit :
" WHEREAS, The introduction of water into the town is an object of great interest and importance to all its citizens, and should be accompanied with some public parade; therefore,
" Resolved, That the Watering Committee be authorized and requested to invite the citizens and strangers now in town, to be present at the Water- works at such time as the engineer may notify said committee of his readi- ness to put said works in operation, and that said committee procure the use of the cannon, and take such other steps as to them may seem fit and suitable to so great an occasion."
In accordance with the above resolution, the inauguration of the Water-works took place on the last day of September or first day of October, 1833, and great was the rejoicing of the people. The can- non was fired, music obtained, and a procession formed, composed of hundreds of citizens, a large number of ladies, members of the Legis- lature then about to assemble, strangers, ete. It was a jubilee. And from that day to this, the Water-works have not ceased to do good service, and were then, as now, the most important public improve- ment in the city.
The cost of the Water-works was reported to be, for ground, super- intendence, engine, etc., about $55,000. In the City Council, John M. Hill was chairman of what was then styled the " Watering Com- mittee," and he devoted much of his time and energy to the impor- tant trust.
The first public debt incurred by the city was for the Water-works. The laying down of the pipe was an expensive operation-especially in such a rocky city-averaging, perhaps, about $4 per foot. The reservoir is situated, according to Mr. Stein's report, 5,800 feet from the Public Square.
As to the revenue derived from the Water-works, it has been all the time below the cost of furnishing a supply. If pipes were laid throughout the whole eity, the water tax would be sufficient to carry on the works; but as it is, no revenue can be derived from this source. The water was furnished to so few the first year or two, that the reve- nue derived was only about $1,500 per annum. Now the water tax amounts to about $25,000 per annum.
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