The oldest bookselling house in Cleveland is that of the Cobbs, now existing under the firm name of Cobb, Andrews & Co. It has grown with the growth of the city, from a small concern where a few books and a limited stock of stationery were kept as adjuncts to a job printing office, to a large establishment doing an extensive business throughout the northern half of Ohio and north-western Pennsylvania, and in parts of Michigan and Indiana, and which has planted in Chicago a branch that has grown to be equal in importance with the parent establishment. Through financial storm and sunshine this house has steadily grown, without a mishap, and now ranks as one of the most important and staunchest business houses in the city.

The head of the firm, Junius Brutus Cobb, was born in 1822, received a good common school education, and was then sent to learn the trade of a cabinet-maker. When his apprenticeship expired he worked for a short time as a journeyman, but was dissatisfied with the trade, and for a year or two taught school. In 1842, he decided to try his fortune in the West, and reached Cleveland, where he found employment as clerk in the store of M.

C. Younglove. Mr. Younglove was then doing a job printing business, and kept in addition a stock of books and stationery. Opportunity sometime after offering, two younger brothers of Mr. Cobb followed him, and were employed by Mr. Younglove. In 1848, the three brothers united in the purchase of an interest in the establishment, and the firm of M. C.

Younglove & Co. was formed, the store being located in the American House building. Here the firm remained some years, the book trade steadily increasing, until the old quarters were too strait for its accommodation.

In April 1852, Mr. Younglove parted with his entire interest in the concern to his partners, and the firm name of J. B. Cobb & Co. was adopted. Before this the printing department had been abandoned, and the concern was run as a book and stationery store, with a bindery attached.

The old store being too small, new and more commodious quarters were found further up Superior street on the opposite side, and with the change the business increased with greater rapidity than previously.

In February, 1864, it was decided to open a similar house in Chicago. A store was engaged, and Mr. J. B. Cobb went up to open it, taking with him a relative of the firm who had formerly been their clerk, Mr. Daniel Pritchard. The business of the new establishment instantly became large and remunerative, the jobbing trade commencing auspiciously, and rapidly increasing to extensive dimensions. At the same time the parent house in Cleveland added a wholesale department to its former retail trade, and this grew rapidly, the need of such an establishment being keenly felt by the numerous small stores throughout the country that had hitherto been dependent on Cincinnati or the dealers at the East. The rapid growth of business in the two establishments necessitated a new arrangement of the firm, and Cobb, Pritchard & Co. took charge of the Chicago house, whilst Cobb, Andrews & Co. manage the Cleveland establishment. The latter firm was made by the accession of Mr. Theodore A. Andrews, who had been brought up as a clerk in the house, taking his place as a partner in April, 1865.

Mr. J. B. Cobb took up his residence in Chicago, leaving his brothers, C.

C. and B. J., in Cleveland.

The Cobbs have maintained for themselves a high reputation for honesty, fair dealing, and courtesy in business, and in this way have secured prosperity. The trade that, when they first took it, amounted to about $25,000 a year, had grown, in 1868, to over $200,000. The qualities that gained for the head of the firm so many valuable business friends, was shared in by his brothers, and these again impressed them on the young men brought up under their control. The result is seen in the large number of customers frequenting the store daily, and in the extensive wholesale trade done.

A. G. Colwell.

Mr. Colwell is a native of Madison county, New York, and came to Cleveland in 1852, soon after the opening of the different railroads had given the city an important start in the road to prosperity. Mr. Colwell immediately engaged in the hardware trade, on Ontario street, where he has continued to the present day. As the city grew in size, and its area of commerce extended, the business of Mr. Colwell steadily increased. The retail trade gradually developed into wholesale, and this grew into important proportions, pushing its ramifications through northern Ohio, Michigan, and north-western Pennsylvania.

Mr. Colwell has attended closely to his business, taking no other interest in public affairs than is the duty of every good citizen. But whilst carefully conducting his business he has found time for the gratification of a cultivated taste in literature, and has taken pleasure in partic.i.p.ating in every movement designed to foster a similar taste in others. In a recent tour in Europe, undertaken for the benefit of his health, he visited the princ.i.p.al points of literary and artistic interest, and brought back with him many rare and curious souvenirs of travel.

William Bingham.

Whilst few men, if there are any, in the city of Cleveland are more highly respected than William Bingham, there are none less desirous of notoriety in any form. To do his duty to himself, his family, and his fellow men, and to do it quietly and un.o.btrusively, is the extent of Mr. Bingham's ambition, so far as can be judged by the whole tenor of his life. Did the matter rest with him, no notice of him would have appeared in this work, but to omit him would be a manifest injustice, and would at the same time render the volume imperfect.

Mr. Bingham is a native of Andover, Connecticut, and on his arrival here from the East, became a clerk in George Worthington's hardware store.

After a few years' service in this capacity, he set up in the same line for himself, and for about a quarter of a century has carried on business with marked success. The operations of the firm of William Bingham & Co., though at first small, have grown to large proportions, and Mr. Bingham has grown rich, not through lucky operations, but by steady, persistent application to business, aided by sound judgment and powerful will. In addition to his hardware business, he is interested with Mr. Worthington in the Iron and Nail works, and has furnace interests in the Mahoning Valley.

In all his dealings, commercial or otherwise, he has been strictly conscientious, and this has secured for him the esteem of all with whom he has come in contact, and the respect and confidence of the general public.

His word is inviolable, and no one has ever uttered a whisper against his unsullied integrity. In all works of genuine charity, his aid is efficaciously, though un.o.btrusively given, whenever required. To the young men in his employ, he is as much a father in his care of their interests and conduct, as he is an employer.

In politics, Mr. Bingham has steadily acted with the Republican party, but he is in no degree a politician. He has been chosen by the people to places of munic.i.p.al trust, but always without any desire on his part, and solely because those selecting him considered his services would be valuable to the city; and whenever selected as a candidate, he has been elected, the opposing party having full confidence in his ability and integrity. In his case, the place invariably sought the man, and not the man the place; and it has always been with great reluctance, and because it seemed the good of the people required it, that he consented to hold public office. It would be better for the people were there more men like William Bingham, and sufficient wisdom among political managers to invoke their services on behalf of the public.

William J. Gordon.

A history of the leading commercial men of Cleveland, with no mention of W. J. Gordon, would be not much unlike the play of Hamlet with the part of the Danish prince omitted. Few men in the city have occupied so prominent a position in its mercantile history as has Mr. Gordon; but, from a natural distaste of public notice of any kind, on the part of Mr. Gordon, we are comparatively without data, and obliged to depend upon what we know of his history in general.

Mr. Gordon was brought up on a New Jersey farm, on which the battle of Monmouth was fought, and that had remained for generations, and still is, in the possession of his family. His earliest recollections were of rural life, its boyish enjoyments and boyish tasks. He obtained a good common school education, such as could be obtained in that neighborhood.

Whilst yet a lad he manifested a strong taste for business pursuits; and to gratify and develop that taste he was sent to New York, where he became a clerk.

But, young as he was, he reasoned that there was a better chance for a successful struggle in the new West than in the already crowded marts of the East, and that for the young man of energy and enterprise, there was every prospect of achieving distinction and fortune in a.s.sisting to build up the business of the new western cities. With this impression he bade adieu to New York in 1838, and started westward on a tour of observation, he being then in his twentieth year. He reached Erie without stopping, and remained there for some time, carefully observing its commercial facilities and its prospects for the future. Not altogether satisfied with these, he moved farther west, and made his next stay in Cleveland.

Here he speedily became convinced that a great future was before that city, and he determined to remain and share in its benefits. A wholesale grocery establishment was opened, small at first, as suited his means and the limited requirements of the place, but which more than kept pace with the progress of the city.

Mr. Gordon believed that to shrewdness and persistence all things are possible. His constant endeavor was to discover new avenues of trade, or new modes of doing business, and then to utilize his discoveries to the full extent, by persistent energy and unwearied industry. He was always on the alert to find a new customer for his wares, and to discover a cheaper place to purchase his stock, or a better way of bringing them home. Whilst thus securing unusual advantages in supplying himself with goods, Mr.

Gordon was losing no opportunity of pushing his business among the buyers.

His agents were diligently scouring the country, looking up new customers, and carefully observing the operations of old customers, to ascertain how their trade could best be stimulated and developed, to the mutual profit of the retailer and the wholesale dealer from whom he obtained his supplies. Men of pushing character and large business acquaintance were sought out and engaged, that they might aid in developing the business of the establishment. As these withdrew, to set up in business for themselves, others took their place. It is a noticable fact that no house has sent out more young men who have achieved success for themselves; and that success was undoubtedly in large measure due to the training received under Mr. Gordon.

He tolerated no sluggards around his establishment. A hard worker himself, those around him were stimulated to hard work. He was at the warehouse with the earliest clerk and left it with the latest. He demanded unflagging industry from his employees, but asked no more than he manifested himself. It was through this persistent energy that he achieved success where others might have failed.

When Mr. Gordon's capital had increased to such an extent as to warrant his employment of some of the surplus in investment outside of his regular business, he made some highly profitable operations of this kind. Among them was his uniting with some others of like foresight in the purchase of a tract of mineral land on Lake Superior, and the formation of iron mining companies which, though not immediately profitable, eventually yielded an enormous percentage on the original outlay, and bids fair to be equally profitable for many years to come, besides being a source of immense wealth to the city.

In 1857, Mr. Gordon's health failed, and since that time he has paid but little personal attention to business, but by an extended tour to Europe, it has been in a great measure restored, and being still in the meridian of life, he has the prospect, unless some mishap occurs, of long enjoying the fruits of his far-sighted intelligence and unwearied industry.

Henry Wick

Lemuel Wick, the father of Henry, was among the early settlers of Youngstown. The Rev. William Wick, his uncle, preached from time to time as a missionary of the Presbyterian church, in the settlements on the border of Pennsylvania and Ohio, as early as 1779. Henry's father was a merchant, in whose store be became a clerk at the age of fifteen. At twenty-one he engaged in the project of a rolling-mill at Youngstown, which proved successful. In company with a brother, his father's interest in the store was purchased, and, having a successful future in prospect, Mr. Wick married, about that time, Miss Mary Hine, of Youngstown, whose father was a prominent lawyer of that place. In 1848, he became a citizen of Cleveland, disposing of the rolling mill to Brown, Bonnell & Co., who have since become leading iron men of the Mahoning Valley.

After a few years of mercantile business at Cleveland, the banking house of Wick, Otis & Brownell was formed, and was successfully managed for two years, when the brothers Wick purchased the interest of the other partners, and continued together until 1857, when the firm name was changed to Henry & A. H. Wick, father and son, and has thus continued until the present time.

Mr. Wick is a man of more than ordinary business ability, and has, throughout his long commercial life, so directed his talent as to preserve an unsullied character, and enjoy the unlimited confidence of his fellow citizens, in addition to a handsome competence. Speculations were always avoided by him, because he believed that, in a young and healthy country like this, men may acc.u.mulate property fast enough in the legitimate channels of trade, coupled with frugality, temperance and industry. Many of his employees, by following his example, have become eminently successful in business.

Mr. Wick was born February 28, 1807, and, consequently, is in his sixty-third year, although he has lost little of the elasticity of his step or his business faculty.

William Edwards

The firm of Edwards, Townsend & Co. now ranks among the leading houses in the city, doing an enormous business, and respected everywhere for its enterprise and integrity. The head of the firm, William Edwards, was born in Springfield, Ma.s.sachusetts, June 6, 1831. At the age of fifteen, he entered mercantile life as a clerk, and remained in that position in Springfield six years. In 1852, he came to Cleveland, that year having brought many New Englanders here on account of the recent opening of the railroads. His first year was spent in clerking for W. J. Gordon, who then had by far the most important wholesale grocery establishment in the city.

At the end of the year Mr. Edwards, having two thousand five hundred dollars capital, resolved on setting up a jobbing grocery establishment for himself, and in company with Mr. Treat, opened a store on Ca.n.a.l street, doing business in a small way, and being their own accountants, salesmen and porters. The first year's business footed up sales to the amount of thirty-seven thousand dollars only, but the young firm was not discouraged. The next year opened with brighter prospects. The first year's customers were pleased with the firm, and satisfied that they were honest, as well as active and energetic, they returned to buy again and brought new customers. Orders came in rapidly, and by the middle of the third year the sales had grown to the rate of sixty thousand dollars per year. At that point, Mr. Edwards purchased the interest of his partner and looked about for a new a.s.sociate in business.

Mr. Hiram Iddings, of Trumbull county, became partner, and with his accession, the business increased more rapidly than before. Both members of the firm used every honorable means to push their business, and with almost unvarying success. New fields were sought out and the old ones carefully canva.s.sed. As before, nearly every new customer became a constant purchaser, being thoroughly satisfied with the treatment received, and new customers were added. The territory served widened, and the reputation of the house for enterprise and fair dealing spread. In 1862, the sales had grown to two hundred and forty thousand dollars. More aid was necessary to attend to the business of the firm, and on the first of October, in that year Mr. Amos Townsend was added to the firm, which then became Edwards, Iddings & Co. A year from that time Mr. Iddings died, and on the first of January, 1864, a change was made in the t.i.tle of the firm to Edwards, Townsend & Co., Mr. J. B. Parsons being admitted as the third partner. Under that t.i.tle and organization it still continues.

The business of the firm has kept fully abreast with the progress of the city. The members are shrewd, enterprising, always on the lookout for new openings for trade, and ready to take instant advantage of them. They each have a happy faculty of making friends, and still happier faculty of retaining them. The proof of this is seen in the increasing sales, which now amount to one million dollars a year, the customers being scattered through northern Ohio, Pennsylvania, and a portion of Michigan. Their extensive stores on Water street are constantly busy with customers and with the receipt and shipment of goods.

Mr. Edwards has attained prosperity, not by the favor of others, but by fighting his own battle of life with indomitable perseverance and imperturbable good humer. He has worked hard and persistently, but at the same time acted on the belief that "care killed a cat," and that "a light heart makes work light." His hearty good humor has had no small share in attracting and retaining customers, and has at the same time enabled him to rationally enjoy the prosperity his labors have brought him. But his good humor never leads him to abate a jot of his shrewd watchfulness in business matters, and to his prudence and keen observation are owing the fact that he has almost wholly escaped litigation. At thirty-eight years old he takes rank among the foremost and most successful marchants of Cleveland, whilst his frank, hearty manners, his warm friendship, and his liberal unselfish benevolence which distributes charity with an unstinting, though intelligent hand, rank Mr. Edwards among the most valued and most valuable of citizens.