Hall & Pearsall - A Solid House ~ 1888
The Wilmington Messenger - Saturday, April 21, 1888 April 21, 1888
A SOLID HOUSE.
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What a Messenger Reporter Picked Up On Water Street Yesterday.
One of the most conservative, substantial and progressive business houses of
Wilmington is the firm of Hall & Pearsall, wholesale grocers and commission
merchants, 11 and 13 South Water street.
The members of the firm are Messrs. B. F. Hall and Oscar Pearsall, both of
whom are natives of Duplin county. Mr. Hall, the senior member of the firm,
is a well preserved man in the forties perhaps, and has been doing business in
Wilmington since 1869. He has been identified first and last with the
progress of the city. He has been connected with the Chamber of Commerce and
Produce Exchange as one of its officers, and is at present a director of the
First National Bank of Wilmington, and is also a member of the board of
directors of the Wilmington Seacoast Railroad. He is also identified with
other enterprises in one way or another, and is a liberal patron of the
deserving institutions of the city.
Mr. Oscar Pearsall, the junior member of the firm, is a middle aged man, and
is one of the city's sound business men and influential citizens. Besides his
general connection with various enterprises in the city, he is a member of the
Board of Aldermen and chairman of the Committee on Streets and Wharves, and of
the Sanitary Committee. As chairman of the former committee, he has done
great service for the city in the way of improving our streets and prompltly
attending to their repair. Mr. Pearsall has been connected since 1869 with
his present partner, first as a salesman and buyer in the house of Edwards &
Hall and since 1876 as a partner of the present firm to which he was admitted
just previous to the death of Mr. Edwards the former partner.
THE STOCK CARRIED.
by Messrs. Hall & Pearsall is large and full at all seasons, consisting of
meat, molasses, flour, sugar, coffees, salt, all kinds of groceries,
fertilizers, etc., etc.
The firm does an exclusive wholesale business, and has its patrons far and
near.
The building which they occupy at Nos. 11 and 13 South Water street, is a
two-story brick structure, and both stories are packed from bottom to top with
merchandise. The store-room proper is forty feet in width and eighty in
depth, and on the second story is a room the same size. On the first floor
the general stock is carried, and here also are the business offices and the
receiving and shipping departments. The second story is used for storing
peanuts, bagging, etc. Notwithstanding the large storerooms mentioned, the
house is so cramped for room that two warerooms across the alley are used for
meat and heavy groceries.
In addition to these storerooms there are two large warehouses on the
waterfront which are used for storing salt, molasses and other heavy groceries
and fertilizers. One of these warehouses is probably the largest merchandise
warehouse in the city, being one hundred feet in width by one hundred and
fifty feet in length, and having a wharf front of two hundred feet.
The other warehouse is situated on the wharf in front of the store and is
thirty by seventy feet, having a wharf front of 140 feet. Both of these
warehouses are crowded with goods, and still there is not room enough to carry
the large stock which this house has to carry to accomodate a large and
growing trade.
THE COMMISSION BUSINESS
of the house is done in cotton, naval stores, peanuts and other country
produce, and for the transaction of this business the firm has the most
complete facilities besides having a wharf front of nearly 300 feet at their
warehouses, their yard for handling naval stores is situated at Point Peter,
where they have a frontage of about 1,000 feet on the Cape Fear and Northeast
rivers. The yard for naval stores also comprises about six acres on which
there are capacious sheds and other facilities for handling consignments of
naval stores on the largest scale.
THE GROWTH OF THE BUSINESS
The growth of the business of Messrs. Hall & Pearsall has been steady and
uniform since the establishment of their copartnership. Their trade extends
over a wide territory in North and South Carolina, and is growing in both
States.
They also run a line of schooners for the coasting trade, dealing
principally with Onslow county. The schooners make regular trips, bringing in
country produce and taking out merchandise for the large trade the house has
in the territory there is opened up.
AND FINALLY
The firm has two drummers, Messrs. J. W. MacRae, formerly of Maxton, and Mr.
J. C. Cox, formerly of Kenansville, who look after the out of town trade. Mr.
W. J. Toomer is the manager of the commision business, Mr. T. M. Dobson is
shipping clerk, Mr. B. F. King is the cashier, Mr. R. W. Price is the
bookkeeper and Mr. Andrew J. Howell is the stenographer of the house.
Next to owning the building at Nos. 11 and 13 South Water street and the
valuable warehouses and water fronts mentioned, the firm is fortunate in
having such a corps of capable and business like assistants.
With their facilities, superior business methods and ample capital, the firm
of Hall & Pearsall takes a leading place in the commercial ranks of our city
and is one of the business houses of which Wilmington has cause to be proud.
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