Omaha daily bee., 1921-06-19


tutions. Among the latter is Paxtol
& Gallagher company. This is on
of the early Omaha distributors o
: groceries which has enjoyed such
steady march of progress that it ha
spread through new addition afte
addition until it is one of the reall.
large grocery houses of the countr,
and known from sea to sea.
Implement Business Develops.
But while the grocery and dr.,
goods jobbing began to develop
early in Omaha the farm machiner,
business for some years continued
to center in Council Bluffs. Herr
again the 50-cent fare for rid
across on the dummy" line begal
to tell. Farmers and dealers iron
west of the river did not like Il
stand this continual drain when the,
came to Omaha TO get to the jobbins
center. But that was not all. Again
it may be repeated that history
does not record the cause for Oma
has development as an implement
jobbing center, but does recort
some facts from which historian,
MAY draw their own conclusions
| Two outstanding facts then, there
were one, the s0-cent dummy
fare, and the other, an Scent pei
hundredweight discrimination on ths
interstate freight rate, which startcc
great migration of implemen,
| jobbers from the Council Bluffs side
to the Nebraska side.
Partners Dissolve Relations.
It is doubtful whether any house
now in existence led the march
ahead Of the Liningcr concern. III
the early 70's this was Shugert
Lininger & Wies of Council Bluffs
| Always pioneer by nature G.. W.
Lininger wanted to push westward
across the river, but his partner
Mr.. Shugert, wished to remain in
Council Bluffs. There came a part
ing of the ways and the partners
dissolved relations, Mr.. Shugert re-
naming in Council Bluffs and after
ward developing what is today
En1pkie- -Shugert-Hill company and
Mr.. Lininger coming to Omaha and
developing what is today the
Lininger Implement company. For
a time it was Lininger & Metcalf
with not only a jobbing house in
Omaha. but string of retail i'm
plement houses throughout the state,
but in comparatively recent years
the Metcalf name has dropped out
of the. firm, which is today the
Lininger Implement company.
II this concern was not the first
to start the movement to the Ne
braska side of the river and thus to
plant the seed for a great farm i'm
plement distributing center here, it
was at least one of the very first of
any Importance to start the move
ment.
Followed then Deere, Wells & Co.,
which soon on the Nebraska side be-
came the John Deere Plow Co., a
subsidiary Of Deere & Co., Moline,
ILL.,, one of the two largest imple-
ment concerns in America.
On Old Church Site.
This concern occupied various
buildings in Omaha until it finally
bought the old St. Philomena Cath
olic church. tore it down and built
| the magnificent structure which is
now the home of the John Deere
Plow Co., in Omaha, said to have the
largest sample floor of any imple-
ment house in America.
w. S. Cass, present advertising
manager of the John Deere Plow
Co., c. w. Senift, former manager
for the Sterling Manufacturing Co.,
Omaha branch, and some of the
other old timers on implement row
remember we'll when the old church
stood on the present John Deere
site, and when the horse cars hauled
passengers to and from the old Coz
zens hotel which stood where the
Carpenter Paper Co. house now
| stands.
The Grand Detour P1ow Co.
sought better quarters, better accom-
modations, and more advantageous
freight rate in Omaha. David Brad
lev & Co. followed. The Rock Island
Plow Co. came and the South Bend
Chilled Plow Co. In rapid success
sion they abandoned the Iowa side of
the river and fastened to get 10
Gated in Omaha, as the experience OF
the leader in this movement showed
instantly that the farm machipery
| jobber on the Nebraska side of the
river was going to get the Nebraska
and western business.
ntLor s.,,rf>.,,aok ,~,.f,
throughout the United States cast
their eyes on Omaha, saw the sue
cess of their competitors and made
a headlong rush to get here. Branch
after branch and jobbing house after
| jobbing house sprung into existence,
until Omaha came to take third place
in the United States as an ilnple-
nent distributing center, and dis
tributed in 1919 some $25,000,000
worth of farm machinery.
Drysoods Jobbing Moves West.
The history of the drygoods job
bing in some degree followed the
path of the farm machinery jobbing.
An example of this is found in the
early maneuvers of what is today NJ
E. Smith & Co., Inc, the large
wholesale drygoods house OF Omaha.
M. E. Smith and A. J. Crittenden
came to Council Bluffs in 1868 and
established a retail and wholesale
drygoods business. A little later the
firm disposed Of its retail business
and went into jobbing alone. Their
first store was located at what is
now 4l0 Broadway in Council Bluffs
when that city was little more than
hamlet. Omaha was now forging
to the front, and after one more
move in Council Bluffs the big step
across the river was made. 1t was
in 1886 that they moved across and
used the building now occupied by
the Marshall Paper compang, Elev-
enth and Douglas streets.
Becomes M. E. Smith & Co.