The History of Louisville, from the Earliest Settlement till the Year 1852

by Ben Casseday

This establishment, the oldest in the city, also commands a very prominent position in the western country. What has before been said with reference to the hat business, applies equally well to this establishment. The energy and promptness of this firm as manufacturers, the extended character of their business relations, and the high position which they occupy at home as well as abroad, have not only insured their own prosperity beyond any usual contingency but have added to the fame, the business and the resources of the city.

Some idea may be formed of the increase in this department of business, when it is asserted that the sales of this house alone now reaches an amount greatly beyond what five years ago were the entire sales of the city. Hats made in Louisville always find the preference with western and southern purchasers over those made elsewhere. Not only are the qualities greatly superior, but the styles are far preferable; and for a similar class of goods, the prices are equally as low as those of any other market. In these remarks, reference is of course had to the best quality of hats. There is no department of trade which has increased, and still promises to increase more rapidly than this.

The purchase and export of furs and peltries is also extensively carried on by this house.

The two examples of this business given in this volume will bear favorable comparison with any other hat houses in the West; if indeed they do not surpass all their compeers.

This establishment has been in permanent and successful operation for the last seventeen years, and is, we believe, the oldest one of the kind in the city. The greater portion of the marble used; is imported directly from Italy in the block, via New Orleans. The foreign and domestic marble business has been a rapidly increasing one from the period of its first introduction, and our workmen have readily availed themselves of all the improved manufacturing processes. They are therefore prepared to furnish all articles in their line at as low a price, as the same articles can be furnished at any point in the West. Fine articles of manufactured marble are now cheaper in the city of Louisville than in the city of London.

At Needham’s Marble Warerooms may be found a well arranged stock of marble Mantles, varying in price from twenty-five to one hundred and fifty dollars. They are made of Italian, Egyptian, Irish, and the Sienna marbles. He also makes to order the various descriptions of furniture marble work.

In the department of monuments, tombs, tablets, and general cemetery work, his stock and designs are said to be the largest in the West. All work sent from the city is carefully packed, and warranted free from breakage. The aim and object of the proprietor is to establish a permanent business by doing good work at moderate prices.

In Louisville, the business of upholsterer is one of great importance. The large number of steamboats which are built and furnished at this point gives a great deal of work in this department of manufacture. The reputation of this city as an admirable place for procuring articles of this description has attracted much trade from other points. The factory of Mr. Wilkins, now in the twelfth year of its existence, is one of the best and most favorably known in Louisville and in the West. It is perhaps more in this than in any other department of manufacture that the purchaser is compelled to depend on the honesty as well as the taste and judgment of the workman. The reputation of this factory is a sure guarantee for the first of these qualities, and the many specimens of work to be seen all over the city and in most of our steamboats, will readily establish the other. A very large trade has been built up for this concern by the fidelity and carefulness of its proprietor. The whole interior fitting of steamboats and houses is undertaken here. Beds, carpets and curtains of all descriptions and qualities are made and fitted up in a style of superior excellence. The spring-mattrasses made at this factory have a wide spread and deservedly great reputation. Some of those mattrasses have not only been used during the life of one boat, but have been removed from one steamer to its successor several times. The use of spring mattrasses on steamers is probably the severest test to which they can be subjected.