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T. C. Power & Bro.: The Rise of a Small Western Department Store, 1870–1902

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 December 2011

Henry C. Klassen
Henry C. Klassen
Affiliation:
Henry C. Klassen is associate professor of history at the University of Calgary.
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Abstract

When studying retailing and its role in developing the American mass market, historians traditionally have focused their attention on large department stores. An analysis of the influence of small department stores in the growth of underdeveloped sections of the American West provides a different emphasis. The following article traces the history of T. C. Power & Bro.—a small, family-run department store in Montana—before the early 1900s. The article demonstrates that the firm's service was tailored to the economic and social needs of urban and rural settlers on the western frontier, helping to create a consumer society in the West.

Type
Articles
Information
Business History Review , Volume 66 , Issue 4 , Winter 1992 , pp. 671 - 722
Copyright
Copyright © The President and Fellows of Harvard College 1992

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References

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13 C. B. Power to J. R. Overholser, Helena, 26 June 1926, Joel Overholser Collection, Fort Benton, Montana.

14 RGDC, Montana, 1:228.; T. C. Power & Bro., Certificate of Increase of Stock, 6 Feb. 1897, Clerk of District Court, Choteau County, Fort Benton, Montana.

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22 T. C. Power & Bro. to J. S. Atchison, 11 May 1871, First National Bank of Helena Papers, vol. 1, file 7, Montana Historical Society Archives [hereafter cited as MHSA]; Benton Record, 18 Oct. 1878. See also Doti, Lynne Pierson and Schweikart, Larry, Banking in the American West: From the Gold Rush to Deregulation (Norman, Okla., 1991), 19–20Google Scholar.

23 T. C. Power to Field, Leiter & Co., 9 July 1872, Letterpress Book, Power Papers, vol. 178, file 3, MHSA.

24 RGDC, Montana, 1:293.

25 T. C. Power to J. Q. Smith, 29 June 1877, reel 508; T. C. Power to E. A. Hayt, 29 Oct. 1877, reel 511; T. C. Power to E. A. Hayt, 13 March 1878, reel 511; T. C. Power to E. A. Hayt, 28 Oct. 1878, reel 511; all RG 75, OIA, LR, National Archives.

26 J. S. Hill to T. C. Power, 27 May 1878, Power Papers, Letterpress Book, vol. 182, file 1.

27 Benton Record, 16 July 1880; River Press, 29 Dec. 1880, 9 Feb. 1881.

28 Benton Record, 22 Sept. 1881.

29 Power & Bro., balance sheet for the year ending 28 Feb. 1882, Power Papers, vol. 231.

30 Benton Record, 25 Aug. 1883.

31 Certificate of Incorporation, Benton & Helena Stage Co., 15 June 1878; T. C. Power to J. S. Hill, 3 March 1881, Power Papers, box 147, file 5.

32 A. C. Johnson to T. C. Power, 3 Feb. 1881, Power Papers, box 14, file 22.

33 A. C. Johnson to T. C. Power, 31 Jan. 1885, Power Papers, box 148, file 4.

34 Historians have argued that businessmen in response to the changing nature of economic life and the unsettled business environment in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries tried to impose order on their activities. See especially Hays, Samuel P., The Response to Industrialism, 1885–1914 (Chicago, Ill., 1957), 48–54Google Scholar; Wiebe, Robert H., The Search for Order, 1877–1920 (New York, 1967), 17–27Google Scholar. Tom Power attempted to impose order on his business affairs by establishing clear channels of authority.

35 J. S. Hill to T. C. Power, 19 March 1881, Power Papers, box 147, file 5.

36 T. C. Power to J. S. Hill, 1 April 1881, Power Papers, box 147, file 5.

37 In his reliance on written records and a constant flow of communication to solve managerial problems, Tom Power used an approach similar to that employed by large businesses such as the Illinois Central Railroad and the Du Pont Company in the late nineteenth century. See Yates, JoAnne, Control Through Communication: The Rise of System in American Management (Baltimore, Md., 1989)Google Scholar.

38 T. C. Power to J. S. Hill, 1 April 1881, Power Papers, box 147, file 5.

39 River Press, 15 Nov. 1882; Overholser, Fort Benton, 115.

40 River Press, 23 Jan. 1889. Though there is very little written on the role of women in small western department stores, Webb-Vignery, Jacome's Department Store, 58–64, provides a helpful comment on the subject. For an interesting discussion of women and small department stores in the Midwest, see Seidl, “Consumers' Choices,” 182—97. Included among the best studies of women and large department stores are Benson, Susan Porter, Counter Cultures: Saleswomen, Managers, and Customers in American Department Stores, 1890–1940 (Urbana, Ill., 1986)Google Scholar; Strasser, Susan, Satisfaction Guaranteed: The Making of the American Mass Market (New York, 1989), 3–28Google Scholar; Leach, William R., “Transformations in a Culture of Consumption: Women and Department Stores, 1890–1925,” Journal of American History 71 (Sept. 1984): 319–42CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

41 Native American—U.S. Army issues are well analyzed in Wooster, Robert, The Military and United States Indian Policy, 1865–1903 (New Haven, Conn., 1988)Google Scholar.

42 For a brief discussion of Tom Power's politics before 1890, see Spence, Clark C., Territorial Politics and Government in Montana, 1864–89 (Urbana, Ill., 1975), 161–62, 177, 277, 297Google Scholar. Tom Power, one of Montana's first U.S. Senators, served in the U.S. Senate from 1890 to 1895. Between 1864 and 1889, men like Martin Maginnis, Joseph K. Toole, and Thomas H. Carter spoke in Congress as territorial delegates for Montana Territory.

43 Agreement between I. G. Baker & Co. and T. C. Power & Bro., 18 Jan. 1881, Power Papers, box 273, file 28; Agreement between I. G. Baker & Co. and T. C. Power & Co., 1 May 1884, Power Papers, box 274, file 13.

44 Papers filed by T. C. Power and J. W. Power, bidders for government contract for land transportation in Montana, War Department, Office of the Secretary of War, Letters Received, RG 107, National Archives; J. Moore to Quartermaster General, 29 Aug. 1883, Office of the Quartermaster General, consolidated correspondence file, 1794–1915, box 841, file 5907; G. W. Hoyt to T. C. Power & Bro., 25 July 1881, Power Papers, box 170, file 17; W. Myers to T. C. Power, 9 May 1882, Power Papers, box 171, file 12; J. F. Huston to T. C. Power & Bro., 26 Dec. 1885, Power Papers, box 170, file 18.

45 T. C. Power to E. M. Marble, 22 Feb. 1881, file 3579; T. C. Power to H. Price, 9 Sept. 1881, file 16761; 2 Jan. 1883, file 546; 16 June 1884, file 11637; T. C. Power to J. D. C. Atkins, 4 Sept. 1887, file 24188, all RG 75, OIA, LR, National Archives.

46 Clum & Dingman to J. D. C. Atkins, 21 Nov. 1885, file 27843, RG 75, OIA, LR, National Archives.

47 Certificate of Incorporation, 15 March 1882, Fort Benton, Barker and Yellowstone Railway Co., Clerk of District Court, Choteau County, Fort Benton, Montana.

48 Articles of Incorporation, 6 Dec. 1883, Billings, Barker and Benton Stage Co., Clerk of District Court, Choteau County, Fort Benton, Montana.

49 Agreement between T. C. Power & Bro. and N. M. Erickson, 21 July 1883, Power Papers, box 273, file 49; Agreement between T. C. Power & Bro. and Paul McCormick, 6 Aug. 1883, Power Papers, box 383, file 7.

50 Balance sheet for the year ending 17 Jan. 1885, T. C. Power & Bro., Power Papers, box 148, file 4.

51 Twyman, Ralph W., History of Marshall Field & Co., 1852–1906 (Philadelphia, Pa., 1954), 102–3.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

52 T. C. Power to J. S. Hill, 5 May 1882, Power Papers, box 147, file 6.

53 T. C. Power to J. W. Power, 23 June 1883, Power Papers, box 148, file 2.

54 T. C. Power to Power & Bro., 25 Feb. 1884, Power Papers, box 148, file 3.

55 T. C. Power & Bro. to N. M. Erickson, 26 April 1889, N. M. Erickson to T. C. Power & Bro., 9 May 1889, both Power Papers, box 98, file 2.

56 I. P. Baker to T. C. Power, 9 June 1886, Power Papers, box 76, file 9.

57 River Press, 19 March, 15 July 1896.

58 T. C. Power to T. C. Power & Bro., 17 Feb. 1892, Power Papers, box 150, file 2.

59 T. C. Power to J. S. Hill, 3 March 1881, Power Papers, box 147, file 5.

60 T. C. Power & Bro. to T. C. Power, 2 July 1883, Power Papers, box 16, file 8.

61 Examiner's Reports for the First National Bank of Helena, 21 May 1881, 24 Sept. 1886, file 1649, Records of the Comptroller of the Currency, Examiners' Reports, RG 101, National Archives [hereafter cited as RG 101, RCC, ER].

62 Examiner's Reports for the First National Bank of Fort Benton, 25 June 1880, 20 Aug. 1883, 3 Oct. 1885, 11 Aug. 1887, file 2476, RG 101, RCC, ER, National Archives.

63 G. A. Baker to T. C. Power, 13 July 1881, 8 May 1883, Power Papers, box 79, file 2.

64 Geo. C. Power to T. C. Power, 26 April 1882, Power Papers, box 15, file 5; L. J. Gage to T. C. Power, 31 July 1884, Power Papers, box 79, file 2.

65 George Stark & Co. to T. C. Power, Power Papers, box 14, file 9.

66 For a recent helpful comment on the May 1884 panic and the recession that followed it, see Carosso, Vincent, The Morgans: Private International Bankers, 1854–1913 (Cambridge, Mass., 1987), 252–54.Google Scholar

67 T. C. Power to I. P. Baker, Power Papers, Letterpress Book, vol. 191, file 1.

68 A. C. Johnson to T. C. Power, 12 March 1884, Power Papers, box 16, file 33.

69 T. C. Power to J. W. Power, 27 May 1884, Power Papers, box 148, file 3.

70 G. A. Baker to T. C. Power, 7, 24 June 1884, Power Papers, box 79, file 2.

71 T. C. Power to T. C. Power & Bro., 11 April 1887, Power Papers, box 79, file 6.

72 T. C. Power to T. C. Power & Bro., 25 May 1889, Power Papers, box 149, file 5.

73 J. H. Moe to A. C. Johnson, 27 May 1887, Power Papers, box 79, file 1.

74 Examiner's Reports for the Stockmen's National Bank of Fort Benton, 4 Aug. 1891, 14 April 1893, 6 Oct. 1898, 12 July 1901, file 4194, RG 101, RCC, ER, National Archives.

75 Examiner's Reports for the American National Bank of Helena, 31 Oct. 1890, 29 Nov. 1893, 19 Sept. 1895, 18 April 1897, 13 June 1903, file 4396, RG 101, RCC, ER, National Archives.

76 Organization Certificate of the Bismarck Bank, 31 Oct. 1892; Public Examiner's Reports for the Bismarck Bank, 31 Oct. 1892, 30 June 1894, 1898, 1904, all in State Historical Society of North Dakota Archives.

77 C. B. Power to T. B. Quaw and L. E. Quaw, 12 Sept. 1894, Power Papers, box 376, file 11. The impact of the Panic of 1893 on Montana can be followed in the useful study of the state's banking history by Skidmore, Bill, Treasure State Treasury: Montana Banks, Bankers & Banking, 1864–1984 (Helena, Mont., 1985), particularly chaps. 4 and 5Google Scholar.

78 T. C. Power to T. O'Hanlon, 29 July 1893, Power Papers, box 150, file 4.

79 T. C. Power to J. W. Power, 9 Aug. 1893, Power Papers, box 150, file 5.

80 T. C. Power to C. L. Coder, 29 May 1894, Power Papers, box 150, file 6. Welch, Richard E. Jr., The Presidencies of Grover Cleveland (Lawrence, Kans., 1988), 131–38Google Scholar, provides a helpful assessment of the Wilson-Gorman tariff bill.

81 T. C. Power to D. M. Browning, 10 April 1895, file 16085, RG 75, OIA, LR, National Archives.

82 Estate of John W. Power file, 23 Sept. 1901; T. C. Power & Bro., Certificate of Increase of Stock, 6 Feb. 1897, both Clerk of District Court, Choteau County, Fort Benton, Montana. On 6 Feb. 1897, the Power brothers increased the capital of the firm from $100,000 to $500,000, divided into 5,000 shares of $100 each. Tom held 2,999 shares, John owned 2,000 shares, and Daniel Brereton, the secretary of T. C. Power & Bro., held 1 share.

83 Letter to the author from Joel Overholser, 20 April 1992.

84 Hower, Ralph M., History of Macy's of New York, 1858–1919 (Cambridge, Mass., 1943)CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Twyman, History of Marshall Field & Co.; Polos, Nicholas C., “Marshall Field—The Merchant Prince—and Robert E. Wood—The Soldier Merchant,” Journal of the West 25 (Jan. 1986): 28–38Google Scholar; Blackford, Mansel G. and Kerr, K. Austin, Business Enterprise in American History (Boston, Mass., 1990), 163–65Google Scholar; Chandler, Alfred D. Jr., The Visible Hand: The Managerial Revolution in American Business (Cambridge, Mass., 1977), 209–39Google Scholar; Samson, Peter, “The Department Store, Its Past and Its Future: A Review Article,” Business History Review 55 (Spring 1981): 26–34CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Harry E. Ressigue, “Alexander Turney Stewart and the Development of the Department Store, 1823–1876,” ibid. 39 (Autumn 1965): 301–22.

85 The story of Montana's mining, ranching, and fanning frontiers is succinctly traced in Malone, Michael P. and Roeder, Richard B., Montana: A History of Two Centuries (Seattle, Wash., 1976), 50–194.Google Scholar

86 The application of Frederick Jackson Turner's frontier thesis has attracted considerable criticism, and much of this criticism has validity. But as Malone, Michael P. and Etulain, Richard W., The American West: A Twentieth-Century History (Lincoln, Nebr., 1989), 9Google Scholar, have aptly observed, “all of the West shared a frontier experience.” The opening of Montana to settlement in the last third of the nineteenth century, it is suggested here, was part of that experience. Urban frontier businesses like Power & Bro. were a central element in helping to open Montana to settlement. In studying the history of small business in frontier Montana, I have found most useful Blackford, Mansel G., Pioneering a Modern Small Business: Wakefield Seafoods and the Alaskan Frontier (Greenwich, Conn., 1979)Google Scholar.

87 Miners, ranchers, and farmers in frontier regions throughout the late nineteenth century West, along with king crab fishermen on the Alaskan frontier in the post-Second World War period, depended on outside capital. Included among the best discussions of frontier regions' dependence on outside capital are Blackford, Pioneering a Modern Small Business, 10–11, 52–56; Paul, Rodman W., Mining Frontiers of the Far West, 1848–1880 (New York, 1963), 145–49Google Scholar; Atherton, Lewis, The Cattle Kings (Bloomington, Ind., 1967), 173–77, 182–92Google Scholar; Shannon, Fred A., The Farmer's Last Frontier: Agriculture, 1860–1897 (New York, 1945), 303–9Google Scholar; Bruchey, Stuart, Enterprise: The Dynamic Economy of a Free People (Cambridge, Mass., 1990), 281–307Google Scholar.