Christmas Greetings from P. H. Peirce Co., 1909

At Christmas, 1909, P. H. Peirce Co. which operated a grocery store in what is now the Middleborough Police Station on North Main Street, sent Christmas greetings (courtesy of Wood's Coffee) to local residents by means of this decorative postal card.

In turn, I now send it to the readers of Recollecting Nemasket, wishing you a Merry Christmas and may you have a happy, healthy new year.

A Sign of Spring

Over a century ago, the painting of delivery wagons was recognized as a tangible sign of spring. Typically, local deliverers of groceries, milk, meat, fish, baked goods, ice, and other commodities would coat their wagons with fresh paint and often finely-detailed ornament each March and April. The painting was done by one of a number of firms engaged in the work in Middleborough, though the failure of these painters to advertise their business with the Middleboro News in 1887 led its editor to publish the following rejoinder:

This is the way Br. Wood, of the Middleboro News rubs it on those sleepy individuals who don't advertise their business:

"Sign of Spring; that our business men are having their wagons varnished so they reflect your face. Our painters don't advertise, so for fear of stirring up jealousy we refrain from saying whose shop they came from."

Illustration:
Clark & Lovell Delivery Wagons, photograph, late 1890s.
The delivery wagons of grocers Clark & Lovell were representative of the wooden enclosed wagons used throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries by Middleborough retailers to deliver groceries and other goods to homes throughout the community. Typically these wagons were refreshed each spring with a new coat of paint and detailing such as the advertisements seen here on the bodies of the wagons. Clark & Lovell was founded in 1896 probably as the successor firm to Clark & Vaughan and it operated from the Richards Block on what is now Center Avenue. The building is now occupied by the Royal Cafe.

Source:
Old Colony Memorial, April 14, 1887

Cobb, Bates & Yerxa, 1896-1900

Cobb, Bates & Yerxa was a Boston-based regional grocery chain which briefly operated a Middleborough branch on South Main Street at the turn of the last century. In addition to stores in Boston and Middleborough, the company had branches in Chelsea, Fall River and Taunton. Sometime about 1896, the company acquired the Middleborough Four Corners grocery business of Ira Tinkham, which it continued to operate under its own name in the American Building. At the time of the acquisition of the Tinkham firm, Cobb, Bates & Yerxa was believed to be the largest grocery retailer in New England. For most of its short existence in Middleborough, the firm was managed by Amos Clark. In February, 1900, Middleborough grocer Matthew H. Cushing acquired the local Cobb, Bates & Yerxa operation and relocated his own grocery there.

For a listing of Cobb, Bates & Yerxa products and prices from 1889, see the Cobb, Bates & Yerxa Retail Price List

Illustrations:

Cobb, Bates & Yerxa, Middleborough, MA, photograph, c. 1899

The photograph depicts the front of the Cobb, Bates & Yerxa store which was located in the American Building on South Main Street and which operated from about 1896 through 1900. The firm made use of all available space, including the front steps. Notice the rack of herring at the far left.

Ira Tinkham, Grain and Fancy Groceries, Middleborough, MA, billhead, 1896

Cobb, Bates & Yerxa acquired Tinkham's grocery, long a Four Corners fixture, about 1896. The firm may have also inherited customers delinquent in their payments as the note at the bottom of the bill indicates, informing Newton Barrows that "This account must be settled to save yourself from Poor Debtor's Court." The bill is overstamped "Cobb, Bates & Yerxa Co."