The Durham recorder. [volume] (Durham, N.C.) 1879-19??, 1885-05-06
DURmAsrs TOBACCO TRADE.
A Model Warehouse.
RECORDER REPORTER VISITS CAPT.
WARD J. PARRIsH's PLACE OF
. BIISIy NESS -:

Ward J. PARRIsH's PLACE o
BUSINESS. ,'t.
Outside of the tobacco belt" s,
called, very little is known, except
the most general way, of the Tobacco
warehouse business Visitors to Dat
willie, Lynchburg, Reidsville, Winston
Durham and other. points, hastll
walking or, driving through thes
towns, do not and can not form al
idea of the great interests Represented
by the huge brick or frame structure
that arise upon either hand, and which
are deneniinated warehouses" Fo
the most part these structures do no
present any comeliness of architec
tural form, but with regard to thei
arrangement no apostle of light o.
heat could find any fault, Expert
ence has been a prolific teacher to to
bacco dealers, whether buyers or sci
lers, and these men have long since
learned to employ the agencies o
Nature.
Throughout the entire tobacco dis
trict of the South, and especially here
=, in what is known as
TIE GOLDEN BELT.
has the warehouse system prospered
1t was originated for different pur
poses to correct abuses that were toe
common, and to bring the farmer in.
to direct contact with the buyer in
an open market-a market in which
spinhooking" could not display itself
This warehouse business has taken to
itself various phases, but in no sec
ton of the country has there been
created a higher type of excellence in
this line of trade than we find EN-.
bodied in the operations of our Dur
ham warehousemen.
PARRISH WAREHOUSE
stands as representative concern OF
its kind, and that simple word "rep-
resentative" means much if closely
analysed. To be representative of
business, of power, of means, of integ-
rity, of popular sentiment-to feel
and know that ones efforts are APP
preciated and that those efforts have
been untiring in promoting the COM
mon good-all these things we take
to be embodied in the meaning of the
word representative" and so we re-
peat that the Parrish Warehouse is a
representative institution, not of Dur
Only but of the whole South.
10 those who have never been in
Durham we may say that the Parrish
Warehouse Is anything but an I'M
calmly structure, although it
EXTENDS FROM STREET TO STREET,
its dimensions being 56x360 feet. Up
to a year ago the warehouse was con-
sidered enormous, but since then an
extension, 135 feet has been added to
its length, and sheds, 5Sx135 feet
have been built.
Relative to the business of Capt.
Parrish we have at our hand great
quantity of printed matter. A for
mer editor of the RECORDER, in a
pamphlet published in 1881, and en-
titled "Sketch of the Tobacco ms
terests of North Carolina" makes the
following comments upon the gentle
man in question, who, he says, "pres-
ents one of the most remarkable ins
stances of successful enterprise in a
town where all is life and energy.
He commenced the tobacco business
in 1871 as auctioneer, in the first to-
bacco warehouse established in Ours
ham, and continued as such until
1873, when he became proprietor of
the new warehouse just finished, and
known as "The Farmers" In 1876
he was the successful bidder of the
durham Warehouse" which he oc-
cupied at an annual rental of 50, 1000
for three years, and his business in~
creased rapidly and in 1879 he erect
ed the present fine building, occupied
now Chem by the firm of Parrish and
Blackwell, at cost of So, 900, and
which is
THE BEST STRUCTURE
of its kind in North Carolina. It is of
brick. 56x225 feet, with deep and
commodious basement used for stor-
age, and with apartments for farmers
The roof is a suspension structure,
pierced along its whole length by four
rows of solid glass skylights. Along
the sides run covered sheds the whole
length of the building, on one side
225x16,r and on the other 225xl0,
with a park shed 41x150, with two
rows ofskylights, large enough to hold
one hundred wagons. Elegantly ap.
pointed offices give pleasant places of
business to the eight or ten young
men necessary for ;he duties of the
house these offices, like all other
parts of the building, being lighted
with gas"
The dimensions here given must be
by the extensive adj
ditions made by Capt. Parrish dus
ring the past year, to which we have
already alluded. We also notice the
fact that other improvements are in
progress. A force pump, connected
by pipes with series oftroughs, will
enable a farmer to water his stock
without any trouble; additional
rooms for the use of patrons of the
warehouse are being completed, and
the shed room now provides ample
cover for not less than one hundred
and fifty wagons.
Mr.. Cameron, from whom we have
above quoted, slso says:
"The opening day of the house,
August 29th, 1879, was prominent
one in the annals of Durham, many
hundred farmers with their wagons
loaded with the tobacco of the adj
joining counties congregating to take
advantage of the animation of the
suspicious day. Upwards of $4,000
pounds were sold at this warehouse
ON that day, for an aggregate sum of