Early Days of Green Coffee in New Orleans

The history of New Orleans as a coffee port may be considered as beginning with the transfer of Louisiana by Napoleon Bonaparte to the United States in 1803. In this year, according to Martin's History of Louisiana, New Orleans imported 1438 bags of coffee of 132 pounds each. In the latter part of the eighteenth century, settlers in large numbers had crossed the Allegheny Mountains from the Atlantic states into the valley of the Ohio River; and their crops of grain and provisions were exported by means of cheaply constructed rafts and boats, which were floated down the river to New Orleans, where they were generally broken up and sold for use as lumber and firewood—there being, at that time, no power available for propelling them back against the current of the river.

From 1803 until 1820, on account of the difficulty of navigating upstream, New Orleans imports did not increase as rapidly as exports. In 1814, however, the first crude steamboat had begun to carry freight on the river; and by 1820, the supremacy of New Orleans as the gateway of the Mississippi Valley had been for the time established by this new means of transportation. The coffee-importing business flourished; and, from its modest beginning in 1803, grew to 531,236 bags in 1857.

By this time, however, New Orleans had begun to feel the competition of the Erie Canal, and of the systems of east and west railroad lines which had been in the course of active construction during the preceding fifteen years. The railroad systems which had as their ports Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, entered upon a desperate war of freight rates, each in the endeavor to establish the supremacy of its own port. As the building of railroads had been entirely east and west, and no large amount of capital had been invested in north and south lines, much of the business of the valley was diverted to the Atlantic ports, apparently never to return to New Orleans.

In 1862, on account of the blockade of the port, not a bag of coffee was imported through New Orleans, and practically none came in until the year 1866, when the small amount of 55,000 bags was the total for the year. At about this time, Boston and Philadelphia became negligible importing quantities; the business of Baltimore continued to be quite prosperous; and New York rapidly increased her imports and took the commanding position.

One of the best remembered names in the green coffee trade of New Orleans is that of Charles Dittman (1848–1920), who for nearly fifty years was one of the leading coffee commission merchants of the country. Mr. Dittman entered the coffee business with Napier & Co., representing E. Johnston & Co., of Rio de Janeiro. In 1875, upon the death of Mr. Napier, the firm changed to Johnston, Gordon & Co., later to G.O. Gordon, and in 1886 to the Charles Dittmann Co. Since his death in 1920, the business has been continued by F.V. Allain and Charles Dittmann, Jr.

A marked change in the coffee business of San Francisco was brought about by the discovery that the differences in the taste of coffees could not be accurately detected from their color or from the size of bean. To Clarence E. Bickford belongs the credit of having discovered the cup qualities of high-grown Central American coffees. He was employed at the time by a broker named Hockhofler, and probably did not realize what far-reaching effect his discovery would have on the future of San Francisco's coffee trade; but no other factor has contributed so much to its growth. When the roasters began to examine coffees for their taste, values were of course revolutionized. Antiguas, and other high-grown coffees, that had theretofore been penalized for the small size of bean, soon brought a premium, and have ever since been in great demand. It goes without saying that the new classification was of material assistance to the roasters in bettering their output, as blending was then put on a scientific basis.

About the middle of the nineties San Francisco began to function as a distributing center, and shipments were made from there to St. Louis and Cincinnati. The selection of coffees on their cup merit was undoubtedly a factor of considerable importance in creating new outlets; although it is generally conceded that the winning personality of C.E. Bickford helped considerably. Mr. Bickford, by this time, had succeeded his former employer. He served the trade by living up to the best standards of business practise until his death in 1908; when the institution he founded was continued by E.H. O'Brien under the name of C.E. Bickford & Co.

Differences were finally settled in conference; but the experience taught the American interests that they could survive in any territory only if at all times they were able to provide their own cargoes for their own boats, as had been accomplished with nitrate in South America. J.H. Rosseter, the Grace manager, who later became well known as director of operations of the United States Shipping Board during the war, undertook an extended trip to Central America in 1912 to study the situation at close range. There was only one product of Central America that was available in cargo quantities, namely coffee; and naturally his attention was drawn to the possibility of carrying coffee to San Francisco to provide return cargoes for ships of the Pacific Mail, or associated lines, carrying merchandise for the Central American countries.

While in Guatemala, Mr. Rosseter outlined a future policy in regard to Central American coffees; the basis being his firm determination that coffees grown in Central America, and logically and geographically tributary to San Francisco distribution, should come to San Francisco in largely increasing quantities.

Up to that time San Francisco had received, on an average, only 200,000 bags of Central American coffee annually for the ten preceding years; while Europe had received about 1,500,000 bags a year. The quantity necessary to make San Francisco a factor would call for an importation, on an average, of 750,000 bags—a quantity almost four times as large as then established.

This was an extremely ambitious undertaking, considering the conditions then prevailing in Central America. European countries were firmly entrenched in the coffee business in Central America, with Germany leading in Guatemala, France in Salvador and Nicaragua, England and France contending for superiority in Costa Rica, and the United States getting only the leavings.

The European countries held their position in the Central American Coffee trade by liberal financing, and a thorough knowledge of the varying qualities of coffee produced on the different plantations. San Francisco, the only important port in the United States dealing in Central American coffees, had neither strong financial entrenchment in Central America nor expert knowledge of coffee quality. Year after year, San Francisco merchants had depended on consignments chosen by the consignors. This rendered quality selection of coffees by the importers impossible.

Rosseter, being primarily a steamship man, tackled the proposition from the standpoint of transportation, figuring that if he could establish and maintain preferential steamer service to San Francisco, and steady freight rates, a great step would be accomplished toward the desired end. This led to his interest in the Pacific Mail Company, of which the final outcome was his present position as vice-president of the reorganized Pacific Mail Company. In that capacity he maintained, practically throughout the entire period of the World War, freight rates on coffee from Central America to San Francisco that gave that Pacific port an immediate and definite advantage.

This gave merchants in San Francisco the chance to build up a steady trade, and prevented other ports in the United States from entering into serious competition with San Francisco as a distributing point for Central American coffees. The view taken by Rosseter was as far-sighted as it was broad. He argued that with the end of the war there would be no strength in a scattering distribution of Central American coffees by New York, New Orleans, and San Francisco; and the only promise of maintenance of the business for the United States would be in maintaining unity of distribution in one port of the United States, namely San Francisco.

The first year open to European competition after the war showed that San Francisco was well able to maintain its lead in Central American coffees. Today, the mortgages formerly held by European merchants on the native coffee plantations, and the control thereby of the produce of these plantations, are in the hands of American merchants; and what is more, out of general merchandising and importing by merchants of San Francisco there have developed expert coffee departments in all of the larger houses. The years of the war brought the product of virtually all plantations in Central America to the intimate knowledge of these expert coffee departments; and today the advantage that Europe formerly had—of knowing exactly what a specific plantation produced—is possessed by San Francisco merchants.

This is no small advantage when we consider that in Guatemala and Costa Rica, qualities vary from plantation to plantation, and that often on adjoining plantations there is from three to five cents a pound difference in quality, from the standpoint of cup merit.

One can not buy coffee in Central America as in Brazil, as these countries are not highly organized commercially, and the importers here are forced to assume the rôle of the Brazilian commisario and banker. The crop has to be financed from six to nine months before it is brought to the port; and the securities covering such advances are at best of questionable value, on account of political insecurity, and the ever-threatening earthquakes, and the uncertainty of the elements. Distribution of the coffee after it has been brought to San Francisco also involves many difficulties, notwithstanding that the demand is good. This will be better realized when we consider that the Pacific coast, from Alaska to Mexico, and eastward as far as the Rocky Mountains, embraces a population of about 8,000,000, whose annual consumption is estimated at 400,000 bags; and that, as already stated, treble that quantity was imported to San Francisco in 1919.

In 1900, ninety-nine firms were engaged in the green coffee importing business (some were roasters also) in New York; six in Philadelphia; twenty-eight in San Francisco; twelve in New Orleans. In 1920, there were two hundred and sixteen in New York; thirty-one in San Francisco; fifteen in New Orleans.

Green Coffee Trade Organizations

Previous to the organization of the roasters, the only kind of coffee organization in this country of more than local importance was the New York Coffee Exchange, which came into existence in 1881, the organization meeting being held in the offices of B.G. Arnold & Co., at 166 Pearl Street, New York. The Exchange was incorporated December 7, 1881, the incorporators being Benjamin Green Arnold, Francis B. Arnold, William D. Mackey, John S. Wright, William Sorley, Joseph A. O'Brien, H. Clay Maddux, C. McCulloch Beecher, Geo. W. Flanders, and John R. McNulty. B.G. Arnold was the first president. Soon afterward, rooms were rented and fitted up for trading purposes at 135 Pearl Street, at the junction of Beaver and Pearl Streets, and only two blocks away from the more pretentious structure now housing the Coffee Exchange. Actual trading operations did not begin until March 7, 1882.

The New York Coffee Exchange was the world's first coffee-trade organization of national proportions. Havre's exchange was inaugurated in 1882, under the name of the Coffee Terminal Market. Five years later, coffee exchanges were opened in Amsterdam and Hamburg; while the exchanges of London, Antwerp, and Rotterdam did not come into existence until the year 1890. The exchange in Trieste, Italy, was organized in 1905; while the Coffee Trade Association of London was started in 1916. The first exchange in Santos was started in 1914.

The success of the New York Coffee Exchange led to its imitation in other coffee ports of the United States. Baltimore started a similar organization, early in 1883, under the name of the Baltimore Coffee Exchange; but after a short existence, it petered out. New Orleans organized a green coffee trading association in 1889, as a coffee committee of the Board of Trade. It is still active. The Green Coffee Association of New Orleans, Inc., which is distinct from the Coffee Committee, was established January 7, 1920. San Francisco did not have a trading exchange until 1918, in which year the Green Coffee Association of the San Francisco Chamber of Commerce began operations.

Growth of the Coffee-Roasting Trade

The wholesale coffee roasting business in the United States seems to have started in the closing years of the eighteenth century. In February, 1790, a "new coffee manufactory" began business at 4 Great Dock Street, New York, and the proprietor announced that he had provided himself at considerable expense with the proper utensils "to burn, grind and classify coffee on the European plan." He sold the freshly roasted product "in pots of various sizes from one to twenty weight, well packed down, either for sea or family use so as to keep good for twelve months."

A second roasting plant started up at 232 Queen Street, New York, nearly opposite the governor's house, toward the close of 1790. This second coffee roasting plant was known in 1794 as the City Coffee Works. James Thompson operated a "coffee manufactory" at 25 Thames Street in 1795. In this year there was also the "Old Ground Coffee Works" in Pearl Street, formerly Hanover Square, "three doors below the bank at number 110," operating "two mills, one pair French burr stones" but no orders were accepted here for less than six pounds, at "two pence advanced from the roasting loss."

Other coffee manufactories followed in the large towns of the new states; and, always, the coffee was treated "on the European plan." This meant that it was "burnt over a slow coal fire, making every grain a copper color and ridding it all of dust and chaff." There was usually a difference in price of three to four pence a pound between the green and roasted product. Packages of roasted coffee under the half-dozen weight were sold in New York in 1791 for two shillings and three pence per pound, allowance being made for grocers at a distance. In those days, the favorite container was a narrow-mouthed pot or jar of any size. This was the first crude coffee package. In retailing the product, cornucopias made of newspapers, or any other convenient wrapping, were first employed; but, with the introduction of paper bags in the early sixties, the housekeeper soon became educated to this more sanitary form of carry package, and its permanence was quickly assured.

The following were listed in Longworth's Almanack as coffee roasters in New York in 1805: John Applegate; Cornelius Cooper; Benjamin Cutler, 104 Division Street; George Defendorf, 83 Chapel Street; William Green; Cornelius Hassey, 14 Augustus Street; Joseph M'Ginley, 28 Moore Street; John W. Shaw, 43 Oliver Street; John Sweeney, Mulberry Street; Patience Thompson, 23 Thames Street.

Elijah Withington came from Boston to New York in 1814. He set up a coffee roaster in an alley behind the City Hall and engaged a big, raw-boned Irishman to run it. This was the beginning of a coffee roasting business that has continued until the present day. Withington dealt in Padang interiors, Jamaica, and West Indian coffees, and numbered many society folk among his customers. Withington's business removed to 7 Dutch Street in 1829: and the firm became Withington & Pine in 1830.

The roasted coffee business in New York had grown to such proportions in 1833 and gave such promise, that James Wild considered it a good investment to bring over from England for his new coffee manufactory in New York a complete power machinery equipment for roasting and grinding coffee. There was also an engine to run it. It was set up in Wooster Street opposite the present Washington Square.

Samuel Wilde, son of Joseph Wilde, of Dorchester, Mass., came to New York about 1840 to make his fortune. He was a young man with vision; and first applied himself with diligence to the hardware and looking-glass business. When he found that most of his customers were theaters and saloons, his religious scruples bade him abandon it, which he did.

Meanwhile, in 1844, Withington's pioneer roasting enterprise had admitted Norman Francis and Amos S. Welch as general partners, and Samuel and Charles C. Colgate as special partners, under the style of Withington, Francis & Welch. It so continued until 1848, when Samuel Wilde—who had selected the coffee business as more honorable than the one in which he started—was admitted, and the firm became Withington & Wilde.

Mr. Withington retired in 1851, and Samuel Wilde associated with him in the business his sons Joseph and Samuel, Jr., the title becoming Samuel Wilde & Sons. Samuel Wilde, Sr., died in 1862. The title then became Samuel Wilde's Sons. Joseph Wilde died in 1878, and Samuel Wilde, Jr. in 1890, the business being left to and continuing with a younger brother, John, from 1878 to 1894, when John's son, Herbert W. Wilde, became a member of the firm, which continues the old title at 466 Greenwich Street, as Samuel Wilde's Sons Company, having been incorporated in 1902. John Wilde died in 1914.

Another grandson of Samuel Wilde is William B. Harris, who engaged in the coffee roasting business in Front Street from 1904 to 1917. From 1908 to 1918 he acted as coffee expert for the United States Department of Agriculture. William B. Harris is a son of Samuel L. Harris, who married a daughter of Samuel Wilde, and who for a number of years was connected with Samuel Wilde's Sons.

Although a number of roasters and grinders for family use were patented in the United States in the first half of the nineteenth century, the coffee merchants depended almost entirely on English manufacturers for their wholesale equipment until 1846, when James W. Carter of Boston brought out his "pull-out" roaster. This machine, and others like it, encouraged the development of the coffee-roasting business, so that when the Civil War came, coffee manufactories were well scattered over the country. The demand for something better in coffee-machinery equipment was answered by Jabez Burns with his machine for filling and discharging without moving the roasting cylinder from the fire.

Among the early grocery concerns in New York that were also coffee roasters were: R.C. Williams & Co., starting as Mott & Williams in 1811, changing to R.S. Williams & Co. in 1821, to Williams & Potter in 1851, and to its present title in 1882; Acker, Merrall & Condit Co., founded in 1820; Park & Tilford, founded in 1840; Austin, Nichols & Co., founded in 1855; and Francis H. Leggett & Co., founded in 1870.

There were twenty-one "coffee roasters and spice factors" in New York in 1848. Among them were: Beard & Cummings. 281 Front Street; Henry B. Blair, 129 Washington Street; Colgate Gilbert, 93 Fulton Street; Wright Gillies, 236 Washington Street; and Withington, Wilde & Welch, 7 Dutch Street. In this year, two coffee importers, fourteen tea importers, and forty-one tea dealers were listed in the City Directory.

The Directory for 1854 listed twenty-seven coffee roasters and spice factors, among them, in addition to the above, being Peter Haulenbeek, 328 Washington Street; Levi Rowley, 102 West Street; William J. Stitt, 159 Washington Street; and George W. Wright, 79 Front Street. In those days not all the wholesale coffee factors were roasters; there was much trade roasting by a few large plants.

While the coffee-roasting business of Samuel Wilde's Sons appears to be the oldest in New York, having descended in a practically unbroken line from 1814, several others continued considerably past the half-century mark, and among them special mention should be accorded to: Levi Rowley's Star Mills, dating back to 1823; Beard & Cummings, 1834; Wright Gillies & Bro., 1840; Loudon & Son, the Metropolitan Mills, 1853; and the Eppens Smith Co., present day successors of Thomas Reid's Globe Mills of 1855.

The Star Mills in Duane Street became a real factor in the wholesale coffee-roasting business on Manhattan Island about 1823. At a later date, Levi Rowley secured control, and under his able direction the business flourished. Benedict & Gaffney bought the Star Mills from Rowley in 1885. A few years later the firm became Benedict & Thomas, then Thomas & Turner, and finally the R.G. Thomas Co. R.G. Thomas sold the equipment in 1920, ending the manufacturing end of the business just about a century from the time it started. Mr. Thomas is now with Russell & Co. Before being identified with the Star Mills, he was for twenty years with Packard & James, 123 Maiden Lane.

While still a lad of nineteen, Wright Gillies came from a Newburgh farm in 1838, and obtained a clerkship in a tea store in Chatham Street, now Chambers and Duane Street. He branched out for himself in the tea and coffee business at 232 Washington Street in 1840, removing in 1843 to 236, which had a courtyard where he installed a horse-power coffee roaster. In the same building, over the store, lived Thomas McNell and his wife. Mr. McNell afterward became a member of the firm of Smith & McNell, proprietors of the Washington Street hotel and restaurant, for many years one of New York City's landmarks.

The coffee business, thus started by Wright Gillies, is still conducted, as the Gillies Coffee Co., by the same family and at practically the same location; and it is interesting to note that the roasting room still has the original arrangement, partly below the street level but with the machinery in view from the sidewalk. This arrangement was characteristic of the old roasting establishments.

One of the most vigorous personalities of the sixties, and one whose influence extended well into this generation, was Thomas Reid. Born in Bridgeport, England, he came to the United States as a boy, and started his business career as a grocer's clerk in Brooklyn. Within three months after landing, he bought out his employer. He entered the wholesale coffee-roasting business at 105 Murray Street, New York, in 1855, in partnership with a Mr. Townsend under the style of the Globe Mills, which were the predecessors of the Eppens Smith Co. now in Warren Street. Jabez Burns, inventor of the Burns coffee roaster, before this a teamster for Henry Blair, was at one time bookkeeper for the Globe Mills. In 1864, Mr. Burns sold to the Globe Mills the first roasters of his manufacture—two one-bag, four-foot machines that were given a place alongside of four of the old-style Carter pull-outs.

Mr. Townsend died the first year of the Globe Mills' existence; and Thomas Reid continued without a partner until 1863, when he became associated with John F. Pupke, as Pupke & Reid. The business was then at 269 Washington Street. Thomas Reid was resourceful and enterprising; also he had vision. He saw the day of package coffee coming, and nearly "beat" John Arbuckle to it. As early as 1861 we find him advertising in the City Directory, "spices put up in every variety of package."

Lewis A. Osborn, 69 Warren Street, New York, and 81–83 South Water Street, Chicago, was advertising "Osborn's Celebrated Prepared Java Coffee—put up only by Lewis A. Osborn" in 1863–64. Thomas Reid appears to have acquired this brand and to have begun its exploitation as "Osborn's Old Government Java," a ground package coffee, and certainly one of the earliest package coffees. However, this brand never attained the national vogue achieved by John Arbuckle's package coffee, which first appeared in 1865, although the name Ariosa was not given it until 1873.

Between 1855 and 1865 there were only half-a-dozen wholesale coffee roasters on Manhattan Island, and Thomas Reid was their leader. Much of his work was roasting for the trade, and this undoubtedly interfered with the logical development of his package-coffee ideas.

The firm became Pupke, Reid & Phelps in 1882. In 1885, it became the original Eppens-Smith Co.; later, the Eppens, Smith & Wiemann Co., and lastly, the Eppens Smith Co. Thomas Reid was vice-president of the Eppens, Smith & Wiemann Co., and continued in that position until his death in 1902. Julius Eppens is the present head of the business.

Other package coffees of the sixties were Government coffee put out by Taber & Place's Rubia Mills, 353–355 Washington Street, in "tin foil pound papers," and L. Bruckmann & Co.'s London Club, packed at 107 Warren Street.

Another old-time New York coffee-roasting business is that of Samuel S. Beard & Co. This business was founded in 1834 on Front Street by Eli Beard (father of Samuel S. Beard,) and W.A. Cummings as Beard & Cummings. In 1872, the firm moved to Duane Street, where it was joined by Messrs. S.S. Beard and Cottrell, and the new firm became Beards & Cottrell. Mr. Cottrell retired in 1883, and the firm became Samuel S. Beard & Co. Upon the death of S.S. Beard in 1905, James H. Murray, who had been with the concern for many years, became head of the house. Mr. Murray died six months later. The business moved in 1913 to 92 Front Street, where it continues as a stock company, with J.R. Westfal as manager.

Austin C. Fitzpatrick, well known among New York coffee roasters, is a graduate of the Thomas Reid school, having entered the business of this pioneer roaster in 1865. He was western salesman for Pupke & Reid until 1871, when he became associated with Rufus G. Story under the firm name of R. G. Story & Co. Later, he formed a partnership with Howard E. Case, buying out the old house of Beard & Howell. When Mr. Case retired in 1887, the firm became A.C. Fitzpatrick & Co. This title continued for twelve years, when the Knickerbocker Mills were taken over, and the business was incorporated as the Knickerbocker Mills Co., with Mr. Fitzpatrick as president. The Knickerbocker Mills, acquired by the corporation, had been founded in 1842 and were for more than forty years at 154–156 Chambers Street. The business is now at 196–198 Chambers Street.

Van Loan, Maguire & Gaffney was a formidable combination in the coffee-roasting business in its day. Thomas Van Loan was for thirty years a partner in the firm of W.J. Stitt & Co. (William J. Stitt was in business at 173 Washington Street in the fifties). Joseph Maguire was a practical spice grinder. Hugh Gaffney was with Brown & Scott until the firm retired in 1879, and for ten years thereafter he traveled for B. Fischer & Co. Then he became a member of the firm of Benedict & Gaffney. Ill health caused his temporary retirement; but he returned to the business in 1897 when he organized the firm of Van Loan, Maguire & Gaffney. Joseph Maguire died in 1904.