Sacramento County
Biographies
HALE BROS AND CO.
HALE BROS. & Co.--Never before in
the history of the world has trade and commerce exercised so great an influence
or been productive of such great results. The furthering of these have been the
cause of almost all the progress of the century; on account of trade most of
the modern wars have been waged, and the nations that have been the most active
have led in the race for supremacy; witness England and America as examples. It
has mostly remained, too, for this generation to watch the growth of the most
signal mark of material advancement and public welfare, in the establishment of
those great mercantile houses which, while retail in their character, yet
afford to the purchaser the opportunity to buy at wholesale rates, and to
select from a stock almost as wide as the markets of the world, on account of
the magnitude of their purchases and the immense variety of their stock. This
is brought about only when the double advantages of ample capital,
or credit (which is the same thing) and wide commercial experience come
together. Such an introduction is but fitting in presenting a sketch, however
meager, of the great mercantile house of Hale Bros. & Co., whose large
establishment on the corner K and Ninth streets in Sacramento is known not
alone to every lady in the Capital City, but almost throughout the coast, for a
considerable proportion of the firm’s business is done by mail through the
country, customers being drawn even from all sections of the Pacific slope. The
firm really consists of the father, Marshall Hale, Sr., the founder of the
house, but no longer an active member, and of five brothers. Mr. Hale, Sr., is
a native of Vermont, but removed to New York and carried on business there for
a great many years, having also no less than five branch houses in the State of
Michigan. He came to the Pacific coast in 1873 from Michigan,
and in 1876 he and two sons engaged in business at San Jose in this State.
Business grew rapidly, and in 1878 a house was opened in Salinas; in 1879 in
Petaluma; in 1880 in Sacramento and Stockton; in 1883 in Los Angeles,
and in 1887 in San Diego. In all there are seven brothers, one for each store.
On account of its central position, being, as it were, at a radiating point for
the whole coast, the Sacramento house may be considered in a sense as the head
of the whole system; its trade has increased the fastest, and consequently the
greatest improvements and facilities have been centered here. It was
established in 1880, in comparatively a small way, at No. 812 K street; but the
pressure of increasing business drove it to the corner of Ninth and K, where it
has remained; but it was then in a quite small building. In 1882 they enlarged
the store by twenty-five feet. In 1884 another twenty feet was added, while in
1888 twenty feet additional was taken in on Ninth street,
and the fine architectural structure three stories in height which now graces
the corner was erected to satisfy the demands of their ever-growing trade. But
the growth is constant, and this enterprising firm have
purchased another strip, 40 x 160 feet in size, on K Street, upon which they
will construct an addition that will give them a pile 120 x 160 feet on the
corner. The name of the gentleman in charge of the Sacramento house is E.W.
Hale, its representative head. In New York city the firm is represented by M.
Hale, Jr., and P. C. Hale, who with another are constantly on the watch in the
New York market for bargains in every line, and for varieties, new styles and
fashions, -- anything, everything, that may go to meet the wants of the public.
While the house does a wholesale trade to some extent, it does not cater to it
nor seek for it, aiming rather at being the great retail house of California.
The wonderful rapidity of the rise of this house to its present position as the
leading firm in dry and fancy goods and kindred lines, is nothing less than
phenomenal; and while typical of our State, the development, of the trade of
the northern end especially, is the most remarkable growth of business on the
Pacific coast and presents one of the most interesting features of the
commercial advancement of the State. The business is carefully yet liberally
managed, the methods adopted are eminently just and fair, the firm is alert to
study and meet the peculiar needs and wants of this coast, and hence it is but
right to expect an indefinite further extension of their already great trade
and popularity.
Transcribed by Vicky
Walker, 12/07/07.
Source: Davis, Hon. Win. J., An Illustrated
History of Sacramento County, California. Pages 781-782.
Lewis Publishing Company. 1890.
© 2007 Vicky Walker.