R. G. Dun and Company, of New York City, who later became Dun and Bradstreet, has rated merchants for over 100 years. This information was put out annually in directories. The information was by city within each state, and listed the names of merchants, tradesmen, or manufacturers within the city. Given were individual names or company, credit rating, and financial worth. These directories were available by subscription only, for a hefty sum, to businessmen who needed to know the credit rating of their clients.
I have a listing for White County, Ill., that was copied from the 1914 Directory. The White County cities and villages listed, and their populations at that time, were Brownsville (75), Burnt Prairie (250), Calvin (115), Carmi (2833), Crossroads (50), Crossville (574), Emma (154), Enfield (927), Epworth (30), Frasers(10), Gossett (85), Grayville(1940), Herald (50), Maunie (512), Mill Shoals (700), Norris City (1055), Phillipstown (50), Roland (50), Sacramento (20), School (75), Springerton (418), Stokes (32), and Turnbull (15).
The businesses listed for Norris City were A. M. Allen, Restaurant; C. E. Armstrong, Groceries; C. E. Barnes, Hardware, Furniture, and Undertaking; T. S. Barnes, General Store; Barnum and Cox, Hardware, Furniture, and Undertaking; W. J. Burnett, Drugs; Cobbell and Boster, Hardware, Groceries, and Produce; Cochenour and Spencer, Musical Instruments; B. F. Davis, Harness; Frank DeBoard and Son, General Store; M. A. Demood, General Store; J. R Evans, General Store; S. B. Evitts, Groceries; E. E. Fairweather, Produce; C. A. Gilpin, Produce; John D. Gossett and Son, Groceries; O. H. Hall, Restaurant; J. J. Heffner, General Store; Harry A. Hill and Son, Restaurant and Hotel; Hill and Jordan Groceries; W. S. Hollister, Restaurant; C. C. Hoskins, Saw Mill; E. C. Hughes, General Store; J. M. Johnson, Harness and Shoes; R. L. Kirk, Groceries; R. B. Lemmon and Son, Drugs, etc.; A. R. McArthy and Son, Flour Mill; McQuay and Company, General Store; Mrs. L. E. Malone, Millinery; G. O. Moreland, Jewelry; Norris City Lumber Company, Retail Lumber; P. A. O’Neal, Restaurant; George Patterson, Hotel; Arnold Pool, Restaurant; Pool and Johnson, Lumber; Ed Quillman, Bakery; Shores and Hanks, Livery; Smith Brothers, Dry Goods; A. T. South, Blacksmith; Solan L. Spencer, Groceries; J. A. Sutton, General Stores; Taylor and Fellinger, Groceries; Henry Walker, Meat; J. H. Willis, Jewelry; and C. P. Witters, Flour Mill.
It is interesting to note that both undertakers, C. E. Barnes and Barnum and Cox, operated Hardware, Furniture, and Undertaking businesses. Evidently this was a common practice in earlier days.
Norris City, Enfield, Mill Shoals, and Springerton were listed as banking towns with banks.
Norris City had a population of 1,055 in 1914, while the population of Norris City presently is about 1,300. That is not a big difference! We may ask, “how could Norris City support so many different businesses in 1914 and so few today with close to the same population?” The main answer is that people are more mobile today and think nothing of traveling to other places to shop.
In 1914, farmers from a wide area around Norris City came to town to buy most of what they needed, or traded items such as eggs to grocery stores for other grocery items. Now people in this area often drive to Evansville, Ind. or Marion, Carbondale, and Mt. Vernon, Ill., as well as to Carmi and Harrisburg to shop. Also, besides farmers, Norris City had a coal mine and two railroads, which are now gone. Area coal mines and railroads employed a lot of local people in 1914.
Of course, 1914 was 100 years ago, but I wish Norris City had even the number of businesses today that it had in the 1950s, when I was growing up, when most items people needed could still be purchased in Norris City.
If you have any information about, or pictures of the Villagers’ Voice area to share with the readers of these articles, please contact me at Edward Oliver, P. O. Box 456, Norris City, IL 62869, telephone 618-378-3176, or email at edoliver2@yahoo.com.
