The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1903-11-26
WHOLESALE TRADE
How 1t Has Grown Up in Minneapolis
From Small Beginnings.

WHOLESALE TRADE
How 1t Has Grown Up in Minneapolis
From Small Beginnings.
The general conditions which have
surrounded and fostered the n1anhfac-.
turing industries of Minneapolis have
been potent in developing the whole
mercially strategical position of the
city, the influence Of the flour mill
ing and numbering industries and the
enterprise and activity Of the mer-
chants have already been touched
upon. But unfortunately for the his
torian the business of jobbing goods
has less Of the picturesque than that
of manufacturing. The wholesaler
employs few men compared with the
captain of industry who starts a
mill or factory. There is no hum of
busy machinery, no Harvesting OF wa
ter power, nothing but hum drum
weighing and measuring and shipping
of boxes and bales and barrels. 1t
is also. impossible to produce figures
and statistics Of jobbing business. No
official figures are collected, and esti-
| mates we're long since given over in
Minneapolis except in very general
way. But the story Of Minneapolis
Wholesale trade is none the less a very
/ interesting one, and one OF immense
| Importance to the city.
Like the manufacturing industry,
the jobbing business has grown in
little over a generation from the SIM
J pie beginnings Of the frontier country
Village. The first wholesaling done in
Minneapolis was the result-rather
/ parad logically, it may seem--of great
! financial disaster After the panic of
1857 there was universal distrust in
the business world, and the store
keepers of the northwest, at least out
side of Minneapolis and st. Paul, had
great difficulty in securing credit. me
region was too remote from eastern
markets and communication was so
uncertain that it was not worth while
! for eastern jobbers to extend credits
into what they regarded as a wilder
ness But a good many OF the larger
| Minneapolis dealers Weathered the
!, panic successfully and were able to
the country storekeepers turned in
their difficulty At first they would
drive in with their teams and buy
4 small supplies for cash. Later they
were able to show themselves worthy
! of credit and obtained goods in larger
quantities. 1t seems that this first
| wholesaling was more of an accommo-
dation than anything else, but the idea
took ready hold, and in a few years
a
chants of the village We're doing both
a wholesale and retail business This
continued for a long time, and it was
not until after the war that any ex-
elusive jobbing business was to be
found in the city.
+! From some Of the best established
of the village stores Of the pioneer
days great jobbing houses of the
present have grown. The Oldest job
h,,ci iI1 MiYJth1 nn1iS is that
! founded by Governor John S. Pills
bury in 1855. Governor Pillsbury-
the plain "Mr.''--started a retail
{! hardware store Immediately upon his
arrival from New England, He was
/ the kind of man who never failed, and
he survived the succeeding panic and
gradually extended his business. After
a time he began to sell at wholesale,
/ and in 1874, having become exten-
sively interesting in milling and luln-
bering. sold out his interests. The
business has continued, however
without break, the jobbing department
being now the firm of Janney, Sem.
i pie, Hill & Co.. the largest wholesale
\ hardware house west of Chicago,
); A retail grocery was opened III Min
. neapoHs in 1858 by Kelly & Bro
i one of the brothers, P. H. Kelly, sub
sequently withdrew and started a bus
mess in st. Paul. but the other broth
er, the late Anthony Kelly, continued
the Minneapolis business under tht
name of Anthony Kelly & Co., which
it retains to this day.. 1t is the old
!, est wholesale grocery house In Min.
neapolis-
!: John Durham went into the grocery
business in Minneapolis in 1859, ai1o
! in 1870 developed into a jobber un.
der the firm name of Durham &
Johnson-a concern which was the
father Of two large, grocery JobbtnE
houses Of to-day-~the Green g. pe
Iaittre company and the John G
Johnson company.
), In 1851 C. III. Petit founded a. re-
! tail hardware store and employed
: Joshua williams as a clerk. In few
years Mr.. Williams became part
ner, and after awhile jobbing was
added to the business. 1t is now the
; Williams Hardware company. and Elk.
!. clusively tobbing house
None of the other jobbing houses
: of the present time originated before
) the war. And it was not until the
J. reaction after the war time that any
i exclusively wholesale house was es.