The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1905-01-10
CHI Jnessrnger.
OUR OLD TOWN COMING

Elsewhere is this issue Of The Mes
senger weApublish a description of the
new building of the New York Times
into which that publishing company
has Just moved. This building has
thirty-one stories and is 476 feet high
1t is the highest building yet erected In
the city of New York, and, we suppose
the highest in the United States.
Wilmington cannot at the present
day compete with New York as to sky
We a here no thirty-oneI
story buildings and no houses which
tower UP toward the height Of he
Washington monument. But we have
one thing of which we can boast, and
that is the handsomest office building in
the state and perhaps h handsomest
between Richmond and New Orleans
The Matt Heyer building on the corner
OF Front and Chestnut streets, now near
ing completion, will, when ready for oc-
and perhaps in the south. When the
construction of this building was begun
a new era had been developed in our
city. 1t marks another stage in the
progress and development Of our city.
1t shows that old times have passed
away and new ones begun; that u
people realize the Importance of keep
ing abreast Of the times. e a ago
Mr.. Heyer would have been laughed at
by even the most progressive Of our
citizens had he then announced his de-
termination to erect such a building.
He would nave been old that ne
might as well take so much of his mon
ey and throw it into the Cape Fear
river as for any returns he might ex-
pect to get from it. Today things are
very different. Mr.. Heyer is putting up
on the main business street Of our city
a building which would do credit to any
one of the large cities Of the south. Ten
years g Mr.. Heyer would not have
thought for a moment of putting SO
much money in such a structure. He
would have considered it as throwing
away so many dollars. Today he is
erecting this building and spending
thousands of dollars on it for-wh1tf
Because he is a philanthropist and Is
willing to sink his hard earned money
in a building that Wilmington MAJ
boast of as the handsomest in The
south? Not a bit of it. This is a bust
ness proposition with Mr.. Heyer-not
a matter of sentiment. He has put his
money into this building because he
knows that it will bring him good re-
turns. He is one of the live, wide
awake men of our city, who looks ahead
and sees what Wilmington of the flu
ture is going to be. He is simply TAX
ing advantage of present conditions tt
prepare for those TO come. The rapiG
growth of u city demands the erection
of such buildings and Mr.. Heyer ma:
recognized that demand 81 the near fu'
ture and has taken time by the fore
lock in preparing tit is just that ant
nothing ore. At the same time it shows
what confidence such men have in tn
progress and growth of our city.
You may call Wilmington old-time.
and may accuse her people with bein.
o~ld-fogeyish as much as you please, blu
they are not ddl tndl way. we udN'
some as wide-awake and as energeti
citizens as n city in the whole coun
try, and this class of people is at work
endeavoring to put our old town to th'
front. They not only preach her fu
ture prosperity and growth, but the!
back up their opinions with thei
money. They are willing and ready t
put their money into home enterprises
This shows what Wilmington Is an
what pluck, energy and money is goin.