Pettis County, Missouri - Chapter 32: Industrial History, 1919

The Lamy Manufacturing Company own their own building, a large three-story brick, with basement, with an office building of two stories attached. Their output is principally that of working men's clothing. This company has from fifteen to twenty traveling salesmen and em¬ ployes about two hundred people in their plant. They enlarged their plant to assist the Government and during the past year filled large war contracts for uniform pants and overall suits.

The Brown-Evans Manufacturing Company manufactures working men's clothing. From June, 1917, to the present time this firm turned over to the Government seventy-five per cent of their output, making under contract, 150,000 O. D. service breeches. During this time they kept up their own line of manufacturing only to the extent of about twenty-five per cent. The business was established in March, 1914, and at the present time the company has, on the road, eight traveling sales¬ men, and employes an average of 200 people. The concern is a corpora¬ tion with Charles P. Brown, Jr., as president, and Edwin C. Evans, secretary and treasurer.

Sedalia has two mills. The Capital Mills is the property of G. C. Loveland and is located at 205-207 East Main street. This milling plant was organized about thirty years ago, the present management hav¬ ing taken over the property about eight years ago. The output of the mill is flour, graham flour, meal and feed of all kinds.

The Sedalia Milling Company at 402 West Main street, known as the Harter Mills, with Carl Harter as proprietor, is one of the old mills of the county. This company has a large elevator and produces flour, graham flour, meal and feeds incident to milling business. The large elevator in connection with the milling plant makes a big grain storage room and is a convenience and an accommodation to those marketing grain products.

Will J. Crawford Soda Water Factory manufactures carbonated beverages of all kinds. The property is the holding of Will J. Crawford. Plant has five large bottling machines and a capacity of 500 cases per day.

The Hayes Bottling Works is the property of Thomas Hayes and is located on North Prospect street. This plant manufactures carbonated beverages.

Sedalia has one large packing house. The plant was originally the property of Bud Stevenson. Mr. Stevenson sold it the last year to the farmers in Pettis and surrounding counties. The plant is now known as The Farmers Co-operative Packing and Produce Company. The farm¬ ers are the principal stockholders and the business is managed and run on a co-operative plan.

Swift & Company, poultry and produce, a branch of Swift & Co., of Chicago, have a large plant here. They buy poultry and eggs and manu¬ facture creamery butter. Last year they handled 5,000,000 pounds of poultry, 35,000 cases of eggs and made 850,000 pounds of butter. George H. Trader is manager.

The Missouri Poultry and Egg Company was organized and com¬ menced business here in February, 1915. They handled poultry, eggs, butter and hides. W. D. Tobey is manager.

The City has one brewery, the holdings of the Moerschells. They manufacture a Sedalia beer. The company has an excellent ice plant in connection.

Cassidy Mercantile Company is located on Main and Moniteau ave¬ nues and is the Lemp Agency. They are wholesale liquor people and enjoy a large business. Mr. E. G. Cassidy is the president of the company. The plant of E. G. Cassidy Company alone represents an outlay of $100,000 and the annual business is estimated at not less than $400,000.

The Sedalia Egg and Produce Company is one of the old wholesale firms in Sedalia. Years ago it was organized by Mr. Parks, the father of the present owner and manager, A. M. Parks.

The Beiler Grocery Company, wholesale grocers, is one of the old business houses of the city, having been organized in 1867 by Hall & Beiler. E. B. Farley is manager.

The Guerrant Wholesale Grocery Company is one of the growing concerns of the city. The. company was organized and began business in the city February 1, 1906. The company is a corporation. J. L. Guerrant is the president. R. Hayes, of the Sweet Springs Milling Com¬ pany, is vice-president. W. H. Guerrant is secretary, and Cecil E. Guer¬ rant is treasurer.

The Maltby Coffee Company has been in the coffee and tea business in Sedalia since 1885. W. J. Maltby is president, and E. B. McCubbin is secretary.

Whaley Building Company is a concern which makes a specialty of building grain elevators and warehouses and which sells and installs all kinds of mill and elevator machinery. The company is managed by J. A. H. Whaley and has done business in the city for the last ten years.

The Terry Hotel, is one of the leading hotels of Central Missouri. The building is a large four-story structure, with an elegantly equipped and furnished lobby, hotel office, sample rooms and a spacious dining room on the first floor. The hotel is splendidly equipped with every modern convenience - elevator, steam heat, electric lights and fire escape. Col. Harve Terry is proprietor.

The Antlers Hotel was formerly and for a quarter of a century known as the Sicher Hotel. A few years ago Col. Ed. R. Matthews took charge of the hotel and named it The Antlers. He refurnished it through¬ out. This building is splendidly equipped and furnished for the accommo¬ dation tfeh traveling public. The building has eighty rooms.

Robinson's European Hotel contains forty rooms. The proprietor, Col. A. J. Robinson, has been in this business for the past forty-seven years.

Hildebrandt Hotel was refurnished and remodeled a few years ago by the present proprietors, Ed and Fred Hildebrandt. This hotel was, many years ago, the old "Kaiser Restaurant," and was one of the older restaurants and hotels of the county.

Archias Floral Company is one of the largest floral houses in cen¬ tral Missouri. This company grows cut flowers, bedding plants, potted ferns, palms and all vegetable plants. It has fifteen houses aggregating 50,000 feet of glass, all heated by a duplex hot water and steam system. The firm retails and ships mail orders for flowers and plants. It has membership in the society of American Plant and Florist and Telegraph Dealers Association, the only membership of this kind in central Missouri, and have over 600 agencies. The nursery, in connection with the floral houses, grows perennials, hardy shrubs, vines and fruit trees, the latter being grown by contract by an expert in this line.

The Sedalia Candy Company was established in 1889, in a modest way; but since that time the business has grown until the firm now occupy six large floors and two commodious basements. W. M. Harris, manager, has been with the company thirty years.

The first postmaster for Sedalia was A. T. Hodge. He remained with the office only a short time, gave up his position and joined the Con¬ federate Army. The business of the office was first transacted in a kind of a stage line office and general grocery house. In 1862, Dr. Clark Longan was appointed as postmaster and the office was removed south of the Pacific railroad to a frame house near the site of the old Smith's Opera House. In October of that year the office was moved to the old site of the Pacific boarding house. The Confederate general, Jeff Thompson, destroyed this office in his raid on October 15, 1864. The office was next located in a brick house near the corner of Main and Lamine streets, where it remained until the fall of 1868, when another removal was made to the building, corner of the alley on Ohio street, occu¬ pied by the old co-operative store. June 1, 1869, Perry Hawes was ap¬ pointed postmaster. In 1872 the building occupied by the office, on the corner of Pearl River and Ohio street, was consumed by fire. It was then removed to the ground floor of the building almost opposite, beneath the old Bazoo newspaper office. It remained in that building until 1877, when the office was removed to a building especially prepared for the purpose, on the south side of Second street between Ohio and Lamine. The money order department was established in the Sedalia office in the spring of 1866.

The Sedalia office is now a first class postoffice. In 1891 the present building, at the southeast corner of Second and Lamine avenues, was erected. In the selection of this location, there was a spirited contest. Kaiser & Fisher, at that time owned the property where Hotel Terry now stands and used it as a hotel, and W. Z. Baum owned and operated a grocery store on the southwest corner of Second and Lamine, where the Moerschell building now stands. James C. Thompson, then of the First National Bank, joined with these gentlemen. They put up a fight for the location where the building now stands, went about over the city with subscription blanks, raising enough money to buy the lots, with the exception of $150, and turned them over to the Government. The Government appropriation for the building was $50,000. Since its erection, the interior of the building has been remodeled twice so that every foot of space within the walls is utilized. Building is a three-storv brick with finished basement under entire structure.

For the first ten years after the office was built, at its present location, it was adequate for the business transacted ; but since that time, the business has greatly outgrown the quarters according to com¬ petent authorities who have, from time to time, made inspections of the present building. Star routes extend out from this office. The rural route was established in the year 1901. There are fourteen carriers on the city routes. E. E. Johnston, the present postmaster, was appointed in March, 1914, succeeding Elroy E. Codding and was reappointed on April 5, 1918. Walter Kennedy is the assistant.