Businesses
After researching numerous businesses in the Tufts directory from the 1880s, the South Market Street parcel consisted of commercial merchants and wholesale grocers specializing in flour, tea, coffee, cigars, produce, and more. As mentioned in the building construction page, none of the businesses in the parcel were considered “stores”. Instead, they were mercantile businesses or manfacturers that traded commodities produced by other individuals. With the businesses located right near the wharf and freight and elevated railways, merchants were able to trade locally and import and export goods in an efficient manner. Each business had a history of its own, yet almost all the businesses lasted decades and many were passed down for generations within each merchant's family. Complimenting the directory names, newspaper advertisements and trading cards allow readers to get a sneak peak into the mercantile businesses occupying the South Market Street parcel from the mid-1800s to the early 1900s. Based on the Boston advertisements, soap and coffee merchants dominated the South Market Street parcel, but the flour, produce, and meat-packing commercial businesses did no go unnoticed.
Directory Findings
Boston Streets: Mapping Directory Data by Tufts University served to be an invaluable resource in providing names of the businesses in the South Market Street parcel. Ranging from 1870 to 1925, the business names listed in the chart below provide information on the exact products that were sold at each South Market Street address for over half a century.
Coffee & Tea
Businesses such as W. S. Quinby, L. H. Ballou and Co., and Allen & Woodworth promoted and traded various coffee brands in the Boston area. Most prominently featured in the Boston newspapers, W. S. Quinby, 69 South Market Street, created and promoted one of the finest coffee brands, La Touraine. With carefully selected kernels and a secret formula, the skillfully roasted coffee deemed popular among the New Englanders[1]. After the beans are picked from the plantation, they are immediately shipped overseas to W.S. Quinby in Boston (located right by the shipping wharf)[2]. Acquiring the beans, W.S. Quinby places the beans into a separator to ensure that any dissatisfying beans are removed from the mix[3]. The beans are then mixed together making the La Touraine blend. The Quinby experts take the blend and carefully roaste the mixture before placing the roasted blend into a bag for the Quinby company to trade locally and nationally[4].
Newspaper Advertisement in the Boston Post for W. S. Quinby's La Touraine Coffee.
“It’s the Bean.” Boston Post Newspaper. March 18, 1919, 10.
Frank W. Dallinger and Allen & Woodworth developed a coffee brand of their own, yet the advertisements in the Boston newspapers were fewer in number and smaller in size – allowing researchers to assume that the coffee brands were not as promoted or desired compared to Quinby’s La Touraine coffee. Yet, Frank W. Dallingler, 73 South Market Street, produces a fine coffee called Copia Coffee that has a “smooth, rich body and exquisite flavor appeal to all”[6].
Manufacturing Coffee requires a well-manicured process, yet many businesses within the South Market Street parcel use their location between the wharf and railways to receive the beans, blend them into the desired formula, and ship them cross country to various businesses to be sold for consumption.
Newspaper Advertisement for Frank W. Dallinger & Co.'s Copia Coffee.
“Are You a Lover of Coffee?” Cambridge Chronicle, Feb. 4, 1899, 8.
Footnotes
[1] Sanborn, Daniel Alfred. Atlas of the City of Boston. New York: National Diagram Bureau, 1873-1885. Boston Public Library, via Atlascope.
[2] “How I Make Perfect Coffee.” Boston Evening Globe, Oct. 7, 1920, 4.
[3] Ibid., 4.
[4] Ibid., 4.
[5] “It’s the Bean.” Boston Post Newspaper. March 18, 1919, 10
[6] “Are You a Lover of Coffee?” Cambridge Chronicle, Feb. 4, 1899, 8.
Soaps
Newspaper Description of John Reardon & Son's Soap Wrapper Contest.
“Now and Then, Who uses Soap and Wants $1000.” Boston Daily Globe, June 4, 1890, 1.
Serving as the only soap manufacturers occupying the South Market Street parcel, John Reardon & Sons, 69-71 South Market, provided the Boston area with “One Darr” and “Anchor” soaps for decades[7]. Acknowledging the common and frequent use of soap, John Reardon and Sons developed a marketing plan and contest to increase the number of individuals and families buying their manufactured soap. For six months in 1890, John Reardon & Sons stated that they would give out 244 prizes totaling in $1000 (as a whole) to the top individual or families that have collected the most amount of soap wrappers by the end of the year[8]. Influenced by the money, people began purchasing “One Darr” and “Anchor” soaps with hopes that they could be among one of the 244 winners to split the $1000 cash prize.
At the end of the competition, John Reardon & Sons awarded the Carney Hospital $300 in gold coin for sending the largest amount of wrappers for the “One Darr” and “Anchor” Soaps[9].
Feature in the Advertisement section of the Boston Post.
"John Reardon & Sons." Boston Post, Sep. 27, 1887, 12.
Footnotes
[7] “Now and Then, Who uses Soap and Wants $1000.” Boston Daily Globe, June 4, 1890, 1.
[8] Ibid., 1.
[9] “Reardon & Sons Awards Carney Hospital.” Boston Sunday Globe, July 6, 1890, 13.
Flour, Meat, Produce, and More
Newspaper Advertisement for J. W. Roberts & Company's Medal Flour.
“Pure and Wholesome: Diamond Medal Flour.” Lowell Sun, Jan. 16 1899, 10.
Various specialized merchants shared spaces or neighbored the major coffee and soap manufacturers on South Market Street. As shown in the Directory listings, the parcel was made up of merchants specializing in provisions, flour, meat, produce, and oysters. The parcels also consisted of painters, shoemakers, and restaurants – all individuals and businesses providing goods and services to the greater Boston area. J.W. Roberts & Co, 83 South Market Street, specialized in flour and smoked ham[10]. Trading flour was important for cooking along with making the common food product among individuals and families – bread. Meat also proved to be a valuable trade for J.W. Roberts and the Niles Bros. occupying 77-79 South Market[11].
Newspaper Article explaining the fire on South Market Street.
“Night of Fires.” Boston Post, Apr. 8, 1897, 1.
Unfortunately, some business faced fires and great destruction costs during their time on South Market. Potter Wrightington & Co. and Brown, De Lorien, & Co. suffered great building losses after a fire hit the five-story brick building on 89 and 91 South Market[12]. Potter & Wrightington, a cereal and condiment business occupied the four floors sitting above Brown, De Lorien, & Co, cheese and butter merchants who occupied the ground floor[13]. Interestingly, however, the fire article mentions the businesses having more than one location in Boston’s North Financial District[14]. Therefore, we can assume that some businesses within the strip could have more than one location to expand their brand and trade while also growing the number of consumers interested in the business product.
Footnotes
[10] “Pure and Wholesome: Diamond Medal Flour.” Lowell Sun, Jan. 16 1899, 10.
[14] “The Niles Brothers.” Cambridge Chronicle, Dec. 10, 1898, 14
[15] “Night of Fires.” Boston Post, Apr. 8, 1897, 1.
[16] “Blaze in Market District.” Boston Daily Globe, Nov. 23, 1898, 7.
[17] Ibid., 7.
Bibliography
“Are You a Lover of Coffee?” Cambridge Chronicle, Feb. 4, 1899, 8.
“Blaze in Market District.” Boston Daily Globe, Nov. 23, 1898.
“Boston Streets: Mapping Directory Data: City Directories.” Boston Streets: Mapping Directory Data: City Directories, 1885. Tufts University , 2004. http://dca.lib.tufts.edu/features/bostonstreets/people/directories.html.
“How I Make Perfect Coffee.” Boston Evening Globe, Oct. 7, 1920, 4.
“It’s the Bean.” Boston Post Newspaper. March 18, 1919, 10.
“Night of Fires.” Boston Post, Apr. 8, 1897, 1.
“The Niles Brothers.” Cambridge Chronicle, Dec. 10, 1898, 14.
“Now and Then, Who uses Soap and Wants $1000.” Boston Daily Globe, June 4, 1890, 1.
“Pure and Wholesome: Diamond Medal Flour.” Lowell Sun, Jan. 16 1899, 10.
“Reardon & Sons Awards Carney Hospital.” Boston Sunday Globe, July 6, 1890, 13.