Company Formed
Abram and James formed the wholesale grocery company Nave, McCord & Company in 1857 in St. Joseph, Missouri. By 1860, the company had expanded its operations over an extensive territory and branch offices were soon opened in Omaha, Nebraska (with partner Charles L. Clark), and Kansas City, Missouri. However, despite the company’s growth, 1860 would prove to be a disastrous year. On the morning of July 5, 1860, fire broke out in the upper floor of the Nave & McCord building in St. Joseph. The building’s walls collapsed before the general alarm was given. The debris completely covered the tenement and nine people perished. Two of Nave & McCord’s clerks, who slept in the second story, had a narrow escape. The insurance companies refused to pay the loss on the building upon the grounds that the collapse had occurred before the fire. The case was tried at St. Louis, and after eight years of litigation resulted favorably to Nave & McCord thanks to an eyewitness. A guest at the nearby Patee House had been unable to sleep owing to the hot weather. Seated at his window, he said he noticed the flames and watched the fire for some time before he heard the crash when the building collapsed. Abram and James rebuilt their company and managed to continue its success.
Read more about this topic: Nave & Mc Cord Mercantile Company
Famous quotes containing the words company and/or formed:
““Come, boys, I know there’s kindly hearts among so good a
crowd—
To be in such good company would make a deacon proud.”
—Hugh Antoine D’Arcy (1843–1925)
“The shifting islands! who would not be willing that his house should be undermined by such a foe! The inhabitant of an island can tell what currents formed the land which he cultivates; and his earth is still being created or destroyed. There before his door, perchance, still empties the stream which brought down the material of his farm ages before, and is still bringing it down or washing it away,—the graceful, gentle robber!”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)