Graphic Billheads

Graphic Billheads - Stores

Here are some nice examples of store front graphic billheads. Typically shops are overstated and grandiose in order to instill in the customer the importance of the shop in question and to illicit more business. Think of it in the context of many billheads being printed in the Gilded Age - the age of wealth, big business and robber barons. The stores and shops had were competing for business and the bigger the store the more important.

The first example I have, doesn’t fit into the Gilded Age time frame, but it is interesting as it is the earliest billhead in my collection that has a shop / store front on it. I have shown it before in a previous post, but here is a close-up of the store for Christopher Binks.

Next up in the time line is the Henry Nazro & Co. billhead from the 1850s. Notice the large opulent store in downtown Milwaukee. With passerbys and carriages out front.

Next up is an 1870s billhead for John Nazro & Co. Henry Nazro got out of the business and his brother took it over and changed it to his name. The building looks the same, but the corner of another building previously shown has been eliminated so that the customer only can look at the Nazro building. Looks more imposing without anything around it.

Next up several 1870s billheads. Some of which I have shown in previous posts. Henry Sears & Co. of New York, McKesson & Robbins of Philadelphia, Barnes and Van Duzer of New York.

Notice above the signage Sears shows on the building. Much more imposing than the Nazro billheads.

McKesson too has a lot of signage on the outside of its building. Nice picture of a trolley out front too and an American flag on the roof.

Less signage on the Van Duzer building, and instead of people walking by out front, this store graphic has men working and loading wagons out front.

Lastly the Barnes Building. Shows people and men loading wagons out front. Lots of signage along the front and side of the building too.

Next up graphic billheads with animals (so I can show off my recently purchased Veterinarian Billhead).

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Baking Powder Billheads

In 1843 the first modern version of baking powder was discovered and manufactured by Alfred Bird, a British chemist. In 1846, Justus Von Liebig in Germany experiments with yeast made from sodium bicarbonate and hydrochloric acid with explosive results. In 1885, Eben Horsford and George Wilson manufacture chemicals which eventually became the Rumford Chemical Works. Horsford formulated and patented Rumford Baking Powder, the first calcium phopshate baking powder. In 1889, William Wright and chemist George Rew developed a double-action baking powder marketed under the name Calumet Baking Powder. Below find some examples of baking powder billheads.

Billhead of the Month: Schmit Bros trunks Oshkosh WI

I picked up this Schmit Brothers billhead recently in Eau Claire. I currently have it for sale on ebay right now. It is a nice triple graphic billhead. Here is my ebay write up: 1895 billhead for The Schmit Brothers Trunk Company manufacturers of trunks, traveling bags and valises of Oshkosh Wisconsin. Great header graphics with three images. Left side is the firm’s mill at Summit Lake, middle is the firm’s factory and left side is the firm’s warehouse. Billhead has creases. Peter Schmit was born in 1840 in Prussia. He emigrated to the U.S. in June 1854 and located inRacine WI. He was engaged in farming until 1861 when he enlisted in Company D, 6th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. He engaged in the battles at Chancellorsville, Fredericksburg, Mine Run, Bull Run, Gettysburg, Atlanta, Macon, and Savannah. He was mustered out in June 1865. He came back to Racine and kept a hotel until 1866 when he joined his brother Henry’s trunk business. Henry had established the bus...

Oswego New York Mills

Oswego is located on Lake Ontario and at the mouth of the Oswego River in north-central New York . In 1826 the first mill was built in Oswego for the manufacturer of flour. The mill was built by Alvin Bronson and TS Morgan on the east side of the river. An adjoining mill was thereafter built by Henry Fitzhugh. From that first mill onward, the flour milling business blossomed in Oswego chiefly due to it the hydraulic power of Oswego Fall and the Oswego River . On July 5, 1853, fire destroyed most of the mills and elevators on the east side of the river. All of the lost mills were rebuilt. Eventually the Oswego mills lost ground to the Western mills, but the paper mills moved took their place. A list of the mills in 1853 included: Empire - run by Doolittle, Irwin & Wright Ontario – run by GLAB Grant Atlas – run by Geo. Seeley Magnolia - run by Chas. Smyth Lake Ontario – run by Fitzhugh & Littlejohn Washington – run by Penfield, Ly...

THE EPHEMERA OF BUSINESS

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