The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-01-26
THE PROGRESS OF WILMINGTON
Wonderful industrial Awakening
Experienced the Past Year

tile Progress IN buiiuiuS->S" I
terpriSes That Have Been Launched
Praise for Sprunt & Son and the At
Iantic Coast Line.
Correspondence Of Charlotte Observer.
Wilmington. January 12.-It Is not a
mere ''hit of barney" To a that
within the past year Wilmington has
experienced such an industrial awak-
eniug as she. has never known before
in history. This Is apparent TO even
the most casual observer. The record
OF the business OF her banks. the tes-
timony of her merchants and business
men, the multiplicity of new and i'm
portant enterprises. an unprecedented
era of BODYBUILDING, the substantial
Increase in her imports and exports.
the very marked appreciation of real
estate values, the Improvements OF a
municipal nature, the record of freight
shipments, postoffce receipts. custom
house data and a hundred and one
other induces all point to a year of SUD-
~stantial progress and prosperity. IL Is
not a boom, for beneath n surface
are the foundations of this material
growth and these are en-
during. Capitalists and business men
recognize this for they are investing
their money here and are in no way
manifesting that timidity which was
the bane of the industrial growth OF
the place five years ago. Then people
abroad forthwith began TO excuse
themselves when asked about their
town. Now the reverse is true and Il
Wilmington man abroad in speaking
of his home town is accused OF having
somewhere, somehow mbibed some Of
the Charlotte spirit" 1t has all had
its effect and the close of the old year
found conditions here in much better
shape than they were ever before.
Banking circles have witnessed the
organization of the Southern National.
with Mr.. Matt j. Heyer, a progressive
business man. at its head: the Carolina
Savings and Trust Company a savings
institution, has entered the field unde
the auspices of the Atlanti National,
and the Peoples Savings Bank. of
which Mr.. IT. c. Mcqueen is president
and Mr.. +. W.. Dick is cashier. has
taken a Onward step by organizing
a branch IN Brooklyn. where many OF
the working people live. In addition
to these. the Wilmington Savings and
trust Company and the Atlantic Trust
and Banking have mover
into handsome new homes of most
modern c~onveniencies and with every
facility for carrying on the larger
usiness which each has enjoyed. De-
positors in all of the banks ave in
creased more than IS per cent, and the
earnings for stockholders nave been
in proportion. At the nnu meetings
of the National banks this week. the
statements made to the
were perhaps more creditable than
ever heard bsfore. despite the increase
in lumber of these institutions ana
consequent competition.
In the building line. it would require
mOre space than is allotted in this
brief sketch to speak individually of
the many handsome residences that
have been erected and remodeled dur
ing the past year. It has been an era
Of home-buildina. While much of the
property has been as a renting In
vestment, the bulletin boards of the
real estate officers show not a single
desirable house Cor rent or sale. Prac-
ticaliv the same is true of the BUSH
ress district where the demand is
pressing for more desirable and larger
stores and Offices. During the year
the five story bank and office building
of Mr.. Matt J. Heyer has been COM
pleted; the I. Shrier building. on North
Front street. with three stores on the
first floor and club rooms for the Fra
ternaI Order Of Eagles on the second
and third floors. has been completed.
a handsome building block for Mr..
John F. Carroll is being constructed
at the northeast corner of Second and
Princess streets. a $4,000 fertilizer
factory for the Swift Fertilizer Works
is being built on the site of the old
Pittsburc Lumber Company, on the
Northeast branch of the Cape Fear
river: the warehouse capacity of the
Armour Fertilizer Works in the
canthQrn nqr ri of the civ has hepr
doubled: an additional capacity plant
has been added to the works Of the
: Universal Fertilizer Works. usinf
a delinting process for cotton SEED
hulls; the Hardwood Manufacturing
Company has been established fol-
the turning of all kind Of Wagon
+ timbers. etc; a big rendering plant
LAS been established here by the Weet
Distilling Company, of New York: tn
e yards of the Acme Tea Chest Compa'
ny, across the river, have been equip
ped with the latest machinery fol
handling cypress. gum and other We
neering timber for export; the docks o
r Messrs. Alexander Sprunt & Co. viii
be enlarged and extended go as to per
nit of the larger cotton teamers ar
irving n departing from the com
presses of the firm; an excelsior fac
q tory for making all kinds of packin;
material from understandable lumbe
has Deer installed by the Creveling
Van Dyck Company. on Point Peter. II
4 the harbor; a new shingle and STAY
: mill has been put in successful opera
ton on the west side of the Cape Fear
the Interstate Machinery Company {
g deal in all kinds of mill supplies ha
located on the wharf: a wholesale dru
house by the Mesrs. Ahrens will b
started early in the new year on Mar
- ket street. while many smaller indus
triess too numerous to me ton. hav
been the record for the year.
The records at the custom nous
compare way above any year in th
recent history Of the city. More an