Grand Rapids Herald-Review Newspaper, March 31, 1900, Page 31

| | a eT ee cae ae 20 GRAND RAPIDS, ITASCA COUNTY, MINNESOTA. THE EXTENSIVE BUILDINGS OF THE ITASCA MERCANTILE COMPANY IN GRAND RAPIDS. THE ITASGA MERGANTILE GO. A Great Mercantile Establishment Carrying Nearly Everything Belonging to the Usual Commercial Lines of Trade. THREE GOMPLETE DEPARTMENT STORES. Ample Stocks of Dry Goods, Clothing, Furni- ture, Gents’ Furnishing Goods, Groceries, Drugs, Crockery, Flour, Feed, Coal. with its three great department stores in as many different towns, and its numerous buildings and army of busy clerks, is understood to be the largest mercantile concern in Minne- sota outside of the largest cities. The picture on this page shows its several large buildings in Grand Rapids, and nearly everything in sight in the pic- ture, excepting the Central school building, the old school building back of it, and the railroad cars, is owned by this company. The company’s other department stores are at Hib- bing and Mountain Iron. The goods for these immense mercantile estab- lishments are bought in very large amounts, enabling the company to take advantage of the markets and procure goods at prices that allow very low figures in selling. The advantage of this in meeting all the require- ments of the trade in regard to low retail prices is obvious, and the result has been a large and steady increase of business. Last year was the best one in the history of the company, and T« Itasca Mercantile Company, this year is expected to surpass it. <A specialty is made of furnishing log- gers. The company aims to keep up to city styles in dry goods and gents’ furnishing goods, as may be seen by the stock. The officers are— Hulett C. Merritt, President. Lewis J. Merritt, Vice President. Rosaline C. Merritt, Secretary. I. T. Bueneman, General Manager. All of the ofticers reside in Pasadena, California, excepting General Mana- ger Bueneman, who resides in Grand Rapids. The company began business in the summer of 1893 as the Merritt Banking and Mercantile Company, but in the ‘spring of 1895 the title was changed to its present form. The stores all through are patterned after the city department stores. The fix- tures are of hardwvod handsomely fin- ished, the buildings are large and con- veniently arranged, including also cold storage, a two-story office building, large warehouses, etc. The. furniture department is on the second floor of the salesroom building, and contains everything that anybody wants in the line of furniture. Altogether it is an institution to be proud of. NE RIAD RAPS WATER SUPPLY Grand Rapids has a good water sup- ply, and the water plant is owned by the village. Both the elevated tank system and the direct pressure system are used, thus furnishing very relia- ble and effectual fire pressure when needed. Asa result of this, and of the well known efficiency of the fire department, the village has been re- markably free from destructive fires. This is one of the villages where the fire insurance companies have made money. There are three miles of wa- ter mains, consisting of six-inch and eight-inch pipe, and there are twenty- two hydrants.” A Crawford pump is used, with a capacity of 350,000 gallons per day. The water supply comes from Hale lake, a body of water of great purity and as clear and spark- ling as spring water. 2 GRAND RAPIDS HERALD-REVIEW. The Grand Rapids Herald-Review is an excellent newspaper owned and ed- ited by E. C. Kiley and T. J. Austed. Both are bright, spicy writers, andthe paper commands attention through- out the state. Mr. Kiley started the Grand Rapids Herald in September, 1894, and bought the Grand Rapids Review in May, 1896, and consolidated the two newspapers and subscription lists. Mr. Kiley is one of the promi- nent Democrats of the state, and has had various political honors, among which was his election as one of the Minnesota alternates to the Chicago convention when Wm. J. Bryan was nominated for president. Mr. Kiley was judge of probate of Itasca county during the years 1897 and 1898. Heis a good example of a successful journal- ist. Mr. Austed, who recently formed a partnership with Mr. Kiley, is a flu- ent writer and aman of much ability.