Chicago. Some pioneers in the Chicago trade were: Alfred H. Blackall; Excelsior Mills (Downer & Co.); Huntoon & Towner; W.F. McLaughlin; Knowles, Cloyes & Co.; Thomson & Taylor; H.F. Griswold; G.M. Hall; John L. Davies & Co.; Bell, Conrad & Webster; Sprague, Warner & Co.; Lee & Murbach; A. Stephens & Co.; and Whiting, Goeble & Co.
In the period between 1876 and 1900 the following became well known: Sprague, Warner & Griswold; Reid, Murdoch & Fischer; E.B. Millar Spice Co.; Wm. M. Hoyt Co.; Franklin MacVeagh & Co.; Sherman Bros. & Co.; H.C. & C. Durand; A.H. Pratt; McNeil & Higgins Co.; J.H. Bell & Co.; J.H. Conrad & Co.; Steele-Wedeles Co.; Krag-Reynolds Co.; Arbuckle Bros., and Puhl-Webb Co.
H.C. Durand organized the wholesale grocery house of Durand & Co. in 1851. Calvin Durand entered the firm in 1879, and the name was changed to H.C. & C. Durand. Adam J. Kaspar began to work in a retail grocery. In 1875, he went with the wholesale grocery firm of James Forsythe & Co. and two years later with H.C. & C. Durand. In 1894, the name was changed to Durand & Kasper. H.C. Durand died in 1901, and Calvin Durand died in 1911. Durand & Kasper merged, 1921, with Henry Horner & Co. and McNeil & Higgins into the Wholesale Grocers Corporation.
Samuel A. Downer founded the Excelsior Mills (Downer & Co.) in 1853. Sidney O. Blair entered the employ of the company in 1871. E.B. Millar & Co. took over the business in 1878, incorporating under that name in 1882. Mr. Blair retired in 1913, and W.S. Rice was elected president. He died in 1918, and Mr. Blair was re-elected president; with W.C. Shope, vice-president; and C.S. Mauran, secretary and treasurer.
In the spring of 1862, Albert A. Sprague came to Chicago from Vermont. With Z. B. Stetson he formed the firm of Sprague & Stetson, wholesale grocers. Mr. Stetson retired the following year, and a new partnership was formed with Ezra J. Warner, under the name of Sprague & Warner. In 1864, O.S.A. Sprague, a young brother of the senior partner, was admitted to the firm, which was reorganized under the style of Sprague, Warner & Co. Under this name it has since continued. About the year 1876, machinery was installed, and the roasting of coffee began. Oscar Remmer entered the employ of the company in 1878 at the age of 16, and became manager of the mill department in 1895. In 1912, he was made a member of the board of directors, and was elected vice-president in 1919. O.S.A. Sprague died in 1909, Ezra J. Warner Sr. in 1910, and Albert A. Sprague in 1915.
In 1865, A.M. Thomson, at that time a salesman for A.H. Blackall, owner of the American Mills, arranged with a Mr. Berg and a Mr. Davis to go in the coffee-roasting business with him as Berg, Thomson & Davis. After a year, however, the name became A.M. Thomson. James Thomson, a brother, came into the firm in 1868, and it was then called A.M. & James Thomson. A year later, it became A.M. Thomson again. In 1872, immediately after the fire, Mr. Taylor, a member of the firm of Whiting & Taylor, joined Mr. Thomson under the firm name of Thomson & Taylor. They continued the business under this name about ten years, until it was incorporated in 1883 under the name of Thomson & Taylor Spice Co. Among the wholesale grocers who became stockholders at that time was W.S. Warfield, of Quincy, Ill., who, in 1901, with his son, John D. Warfield, bought most of Mr. Thomson's holdings and obtained a controlling interest. The name was changed in 1920 to the Thomson & Taylor Co.
William F. McLaughlin founded the firm of W.F. McLaughlin & Co. in 1865. He died in 1905; and the business was incorporated with his son, George D., as president, and another son, Frederick, as secretary and treasurer.
The Puhl-Webb Company, founded, 1882, as a partnership by Thomas J. Webb and John Puhl, was incorporated in 1896.
St. Louis. The following were among the pioneer coffee firms of St. Louis, dating back to the 1860–70 decade: James H. Forbes; Flint, Evans & Co.; Wm. Schotten & Co.; Fred W. Meyer; H. & J. Menown; Cavanaugh, Rearick & Co.; and Frederick A. Churchill & Co.
From 1876 to 1900 there were added: Nash, Smith & Co.; Fink & Nasse Co.; Hanley & Kinsella Coffee & Spice Co.; Flugel & Popp; C.F. Blanke Tea & Coffee Co.; Steinwender, Stoffregen & Co.; David G. Evans & Co.; and the Aroma Coffee & Spice Co.