Businesses

944 results

  • Agricultural Implement Manufacturer & Dealers--Philip & Kells (Jackson, Miss.)

    Located in Jackson, Mississippi, Philip & Kells was an agricultural implement manufacturer operating in the 1860s. (The Weekly Clarion, August 5, 1869)

  • Agricultural Implement Manufacturer & Dealers--Southern Implement Company (Jackson, Miss.)

    The Southern Agricultural Implement Company was a farm equipment manufacturer in Jackson, Mississippi, in the 1850s and early 1860s. It was owned by Martin W. Phillips, a Mississippi planter who had studied and written about agricultural technology and methods in several journals before starting the company to produce and sell his favorite designs, including the Brinley steel plow, cotton gins, and wagons. His factory was destroyed in 1863 when Union soldiers captured and burned much of Jackson. (Ted Ownsby, “Martin W. Phillips,” Mississippi Encyclopedia; Semi-Weekly Mississippian, Jackson, MS, November 4, 1859)

  • Agricultural Implement Manufacturer & Dealers--Tabor's Manufacturing Mills (Bankston, Miss.)

    Tabor’s Manufacturing Mills was a machine manufacturer and supply store operated by U. B. Tabor in Bankston, Mississippi, in the nineteenth century. The company sold saw mills and agricultural engines, as well as a wide variety of dry goods and groceries. Tabor’s store burned down in 1874. (The Lexington Advertiser, Lexington, MS, February 20, 1874; “Letter from U.B. Tabor to Mississippi Governor James L. Alcorn; December 8, 1871,” Civil War and Reconstruction Governors of Mississippi, mdah_786-973-13-20)

  • Agricultural Production--Farms

    "'An area of land, together with a house and buildings, used for growing crops and/or keeping animals as a business.' (Cambridge Dictionary)"

  • Agricultural Production--Orchards

    "An area of land where fruit trees are grown." (Cambridge Dictionary)

  • Agricultural Production--Plantations

    Plantations are farms that typically grow cash crops, and often specialize in a single product, such as cotton, tobacco, or sugar cane. Plantation farming continues in various parts of the world in the twenty-first century, especially for crops like coffee beans, rubber trees, and cocoa. In American history the term plantation is most often associated with estates in the American south. Historical descriptions of plantations generate images of large farming operations. However, even moderately-sized southern farms that planted cash crops were sometimes referred to as plantations.

    Southern plantations before the Civil War were strongly tied to the institution of slavery. As profit-driven agricultural operations, plantations required large numbers of laborers. This fed the demand for African slave importation to the British colonies in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and bolstered the defense of slavery among southern planters in the nineteenth century. Plantation crops varied by region within the south, with rice being popular in Georgia and South Carolina along the Atlantic coast, tobacco being an early cash crop in Virginia, and then—after the invention of the cotton gin at the end of the eighteenth century which quickly separated seeds from the cotton fibers—the boom in cotton growing across the Deep South.

    By 1860, there were approximately 46,200 plantations across the south. More than 20,000 had twenty to thirty slaves. Only about 2,300, or five percent, had one hundred or more slaves. The enslaved African Americans carried out most of the farming, construction, and domestic work. The plantations were their home. The same was not always true for the plantation owners. The very large operations frequently had wealthy absentee owners, who resided in cities or other states, leaving plantation supervision responsibilities to hired white overseers. Smaller plantation owners usually lived on their property, but almost always in separate buildings from the enslaved laborers. Slave cabins, or slave quarters, were a ubiquitous part of a plantation. They represented the heart of the laborers’ community on the property, but were usually of basic construction and few amenities.

    Following the abolition of slavery after the Civil War, many freed people continued to live on plantations. Sharecropping became a popular arrangement between the landowners and the laborers. The property was often divided into plots with tenants assigned to certain sections. The system involved a contract or arrangement which allowed the laborer, or tenant, to keep a portion of the crop they raised. The system was abused, and developed a negative reputation for the level of poverty many sharecroppers (mostly Black, but some white) experienced on plantations in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Representatives of the Freedmen’s Bureau sought to protect Black sharecroppers by regulating contracts during Reconstruction, but the withdrawal of federal officials after 1876 left many African American tenants more subject to unfair sharecropping contracts on the old plantations. (Wikipedia)

  • Agricultural Production--Plantations. Louisiana

    Plantations are farms that typically grow cash crops, and often specialize in a single product, such as cotton, tobacco, or sugar cane. Plantation farming continues in various parts of the world in the twenty-first century, especially for crops like coffee beans, rubber trees, and cocoa. In American history the term plantation is most often associated with estates in the American south. Historical descriptions of plantations generate images of large farming operations. However, even moderately-sized southern farms that planted cash crops were sometimes referred to as plantations.

    Southern plantations before the Civil War were strongly tied to the institution of slavery. As profit-driven agricultural operations, plantations required large numbers of laborers. This fed the demand for African slave importation to the British colonies in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and bolstered the defense of slavery among southern planters in the nineteenth century. Plantation crops varied by region within the south, with rice in Georgia and South Carolina along the Atlantic coast, tobacco being an early cash crop in Virginia, sugar cane in Louisiana, and cotton across the Deep South.

    Development of plantations in Louisiana occurred rapidly after the introduction of steam-powered boats in the early nineteenth century. Before this invention, water navigation relied upon barges or rafts carried downstream. With the capability to carry cash crops up the Mississippi River into other states, new commercial markets opened to farmers and planters in southern Louisiana. The advent of railroads in the mid-nineteenth century improved transportation even further. This spurred settlers to clear land and drain swampland across Louisiana for agricultural use, creating new farms and plantations. Cotton and sugar cane were the two primary cash crops in Louisiana. Only about ten percent of Louisiana’s 17,000 farms in 1860 were dedicated to sugar cultivation, in part due to the high cost and labor requirements for the crop. For example, those 1,700 Louisiana sugar plantations had approximately $19 million invested in agricultural equipment (more than $635 million dollars today), compared to $6 million (or $198 million in today’s value) in agricultural equipment for 70,000 farms in Wisconsin. Yet, that large investment paid off for many Louisiana sugar planters, as the average sugar plantation was valued at around $200,000 and made a ten percent annual return, and two-thirds of America’s millionaires lived in Louisiana.

    Although plantations were profit-driven operations, many in Louisiana were self-sufficient, with subsistence farm plots and livestock to feed the labor force. Enslaved African Americans carried out most of the farming, construction, and domestic work on plantations. The plantations were their home. The largest plantations were like small villages, with many different buildings, including the master’s house (usually large and extravagant), barns, workshops, storage facilities, and slave quarters. Some plantation owners lived part-time on the property, or visited only occasionally, residing most of the year in cities or other states. They left plantation supervision responsibilities to hired white overseers. Smaller plantation owners usually lived on their property, but almost always in separate buildings from the enslaved laborers.

    Following the abolition of slavery after the Civil War, many freed people continued to live on plantations. Sharecropping became a popular arrangement between the landowners and the laborers. The property was often divided into plots with tenants assigned to certain sections. The system involved a contract or arrangement which allowed the laborer, or tenant, to keep a portion of the crop they raised. The system was abused, and developed a negative reputation for the level of poverty many sharecroppers (mostly Black, but some white) experienced on plantations in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Representatives of the Freedmen’s Bureau sought to protect Black sharecroppers by regulating contracts during Reconstruction, but the withdrawal of federal officials after 1876 left many African American tenants more subject to unfair sharecropping contracts on the old plantations. (John Bardes, “Plantation Slavery in Antebellum Louisiana,” 64Parishes.org; Wikipedia)

  • Agricultural Production--Plantations. Mississippi

    Plantations are farms that typically grow cash crops, and often specialize in a single product, such as cotton, tobacco, or sugar cane. Plantation farming continues in various parts of the world in the twenty-first century, especially for crops like coffee beans, rubber trees, and cocoa. In American history the term plantation is most often associated with estates in the American south. Historical descriptions of plantations generate images of large farming operations. However, even moderately-sized southern farms that planted cash crops were sometimes referred to as plantations.

    Southern plantations before the Civil War were strongly tied to the institution of slavery. As profit-driven agricultural operations, plantations required large numbers of laborers. This fed the demand for African slave importation to the British colonies in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and bolstered the defense of slavery among southern planters in the nineteenth century. Plantation crops varied by region within the south, with rice in Georgia and South Carolina along the Atlantic coast, tobacco being an early cash crop in Virginia, sugar cane in Louisiana, and cotton across the Deep South.

    By the mid-nineteenth century, Mississippi was the top cotton producing state in the Union. In 1860, it had around 37,000 farms. Almost 25,000 of them were plantations over one hundred acres in size, although only 481 were truly extravagant at over one thousand acres. Cotton production required farmers and planters to invest a great deal into labor and equipment, leading Mississippi to rank third among the slaveholding states for total value of farm machinery ($8.8 million in 1860, or $330 million today), slightly trailing Virginia ($9.4 million in 1860, or $355 million today) and well behind Louisiana ($18.6 million in 1860, or $702 million today).

    Although plantations were profit-driven operations, many in Mississippi were self-sufficient, with subsistence farm plots and livestock to feed the labor force. Enslaved African Americans carried out most of the farming, construction, and domestic work on plantations. The plantations were their home. The largest plantations were like small villages, with many different buildings, including the master’s house (usually large and extravagant), barns, workshops, storage facilities, and slave quarters. Some plantation owners lived part-time on the property, or visited only occasionally, residing most of the year in cities or other states. They left plantation supervision responsibilities to hired white overseers. Smaller plantation owners usually lived on their property, but almost always in separate buildings from the enslaved laborers.

    Following the abolition of slavery after the Civil War, many freed people continued to live on plantations. Sharecropping became a popular arrangement between the landowners and the laborers. The property was often divided into plots with tenants assigned to certain sections. The system involved a contract or arrangement which allowed the laborer, or tenant, to keep a portion of the crop they raised. The system was abused, and developed a negative reputation for the level of poverty many sharecroppers (mostly Black, but some white) experienced on plantations in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Representatives of the Freedmen’s Bureau sought to protect Black sharecroppers by regulating contracts during Reconstruction, but the withdrawal of federal officials after 1876 left many African American tenants more subject to unfair sharecropping contracts on the old plantations. (Mississippi Encylopedia; Census.gov; Wikipedia; Lauren Holt, “History of Plantations and Slavery in Mississippi,” Preserve Marshall County and Holly Springs, Inc., Behind the Big House)

  • Ballrooms

    "'A large room that is used for formal dancing.' (Cambridge Dictionary)"

  • Banking

    "An organization that holds money belonging to others, investing and lending it to get more money, or the building in which the organization is situated." (Cambridge Dictionary)

  • Banking--Alabama. Petty & Sawyers (Mobile, Ala.)

    Located in Mobile, Alabama, Petty & Sawyers was a banking and brokering company operating as early as 1865 until at least 1867. (The Mobile Daily Appeal, August 21, 1867; "Letter from Miles Owen to Mississippi Governor Benjamin G. Humphreys; March 24, 1866," Civil War and Reconstruction Governors of Mississippi, mdah_779-962-15-30)

  • Banking--England. Baring Brothers & Company (London, England)

    Located in London, England, and founded in 1762, the Baring Brothers & Company was a British merchant bank and one of England's oldest merchant banks. (Wikipedia)

  • Banking--England. Brown, Vernon, & Company (Liverpool)

    Located in Liverpool, England, the Brown, Vernon & Company was a subsidiary of Brown & Company, a merchant and trading bank established in 1810 and located in London, England, with many allied firms in the United States. (Wikipedia; John Crosby Brown, A Hundred Years of Merchant Banking: A History of Brown Brothers and Company, Brown, Shipley & Company, and the Allied Firms)

  • Banking--England. Founders Court (London, England)

    Located on Lothbury Street in London, England, Founders Court was a financial and business building in the 19th century. Founders Hall was established in the 14th century as an early medieval guild for tradesmen. In 1666, the Great London Fire destroyed Founders Hall and rebuilt it in the same space. In 1845, the second Founders Hall was demolished, and a third was built by the Electric Telegraph Company. The third Founders Hall, renamed Founders Court, was completed in 1853. It housed a variety of financial and other businesses. (T. C. Noble, Title: A Brief History of the Worshipful Company of Ironmongers, London A.D. 1351-1889, 66; "History," The Worshipful Company of Founders and Founders' Hall)

  • Banking--France. Bellot des Minieres, Brothers and Company (Paris, France)

    Located in Paris, France, Bellot des Minieres, Brothers and Company was an investment banking company in the 1860s. (Richmond Enquirer, September 18, 1860)

  • Banking--Georgia. Bank of Fulton County (Fulton County, Ga.)

    Located in Fulton County, Georgia, the Bank of Fulton was established in 1855 as a private financial institution. (Pioneer Citizens' Society (Atlanta, Ga.), "Pioneer citizens' history of Atlanta, 1833-1902," 1902)

  • Banking--Georgia. C. R. R. & Bank Company (Atlanta, Ga.)

    Located in Atlanta, Georgia, the Central Rail Road & Bank Company, now known as Central of Georgia Railway, was a railroad company established in 1833 that operated in banking services to attract capital investments to their railroad company. (Wikipedia)

  • Banking--Georgia. Georgia R. R. & Bank Company (Augusta, Ga.)

    Located in Augusta, Georgia, the Georgia Rail Road & Banking Company was a railroad company established in 1833 that operated in banking services starting in 1835, as a way to attract capital investments to their railroad company. (Wikipedia)

  • Banking--Georgia. Savannah Bank of Commerce (Savannah, Ga.)

    Located in Savannah, Georgia, the Savannah Bank of Commerce was a financial institution operating during the 1860s. (The Western Democrat, August 13, 1861)

  • Banking--Louisiana. Bank of Louisiana (La.)

    Located in Louisiana, the Bank of Louisiana was a financial institution established on April 7, 1824, operating until it became bankrupt circa 1868. (Wikipedia; National Register of Historic Places)

  • Banking--Louisiana. Bank of Louisiana (New Orleans, La.)

    The Bank of Louisiana was established in 1805 in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was officially chartered by the state in 1826 and offered various financial services, including circulating its own notes, extending credit, accepting deposits, and other financial services. The Bank of Louisiana ceased operations in 1868 upon its bankruptcy. (National Register of Historic Places; "Banking in the Antebellum South," The Historic New Orleans Collection)Located in Louisiana, the Bank of Louisiana was a financial institution established on April 7, 1824, operating until it became bankrupt circa 1868. (Wikipedia; National Register of Historic Places)

  • Banking--Louisiana. Bank of New Orleans (New Orleans, La.)

    Located in New Orleans, Louisiana, the Bank of New Orleans was a banking business established circa the 1830s via state charter and operated until at least 1850. ("Banking in the Antebellum South," The Historic New Orleans Collection)

  • Banking--Louisiana. Brown, Flemming, & Company (New Orleans)

    Located in New Orleans, Louisiana, Brown, Flemming, & Company was a subsidiary of Brown & Company, a merchant and trading bank established in 1810 in London, England, and with many allied firms in the United States. (Wikipedia; John Crosby Brown, A Hundred Years of Merchant Banking: A History of Brown Brothers and Company, Brown, Shipley & Company, and the Allied Firms)

  • Banking--Louisiana. Canal Bank and Trust Co. (New Orleans, La.)

    Canal Bank and Trust Co. was a commercial banking company founded in 1831 by George Ogden in New Orleans, Louisiana. Its operations ceased in 1932. (Wikipedia; Tulane University Special Collections, "Canal Bank and Trust Company (1831–1932)")

  • Banking--Louisiana. Citizens' Bank (New Orleans, La.)

    Located in New Orleans, Louisiana, the Citizens' Bank was a banking business chartered in 1833 which operated until at least 1874. The Citizens' Bank is famous for printing the French word for ten, "dix," on their banknotes, which became known as "dixie" notes. ("Banking in the Antebellum South," The Historic New Orleans Collection; New Orleans Republican, March 29, 1874)