Encyclopedia Dubuque
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Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
MCFADDEN COFFEE AND SPICE COMPANY
MCFADDEN COFFEE AND SPICE COMPANY. The McFadden brothers operated a grocery store in the 1880s. In August 1886, the McFadden Coffee and Spice Company was established. The company at 64-68 Main was developed in association with J. A. McKinley who took no active role in the operation of the firm.
The premises occupied by the company included a two-story and basement building, 28x90 feet in dimensions, in which they had complete equipment for the roasting of coffee and the manufacture of pure ground spices and baking powder. Among the articles produced were baking powder, coconut, chocolate, coffee, Cream of Tartar, toilet soaps, mustard, whole and ground spices, dry and liquid bluing, hops, pressed and ground sage, cinnamon, pepper, and ground cassia. The products were sold wholesale throughout Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Minnesota and the eastern Dakotas. (1)
Tea was one of the major products imported to the Dubuque, and McFadden's had a major part of the business. A document entitled "Bond for Examination of Imported Tea" showed 332 packages of Japanese tea weighing 26,390 pounds being brought to the city. The customs duty at ten cents per pound totaled $2,639.
Between 1893 and 1894, Joseph F. McFadden joined the business and the company relocated to 72-78 South Main. The majority of the business was carried out in Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Illinois. A "small army" of traveling salesmen was employed as were twenty-five men assigned just to roasting coffee. (2)
Stiff competition and no buyer for the company led to its closing in 1941.
The 1899-1900 Dubuque City Directory listed 72-78 S. Main
The 1915 Dubuque City Directory listed 227 1st as the address.
The 1939 Dubuque City Directory listed 145 W. 1st.
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Source:
1. "M'Fadden Company Pioneer Industry," Telegraph-Herald, August 24, 1930, p. 11
1. "Coffee, Spices and Extracts," Times Journal, September 30, 1906, p. 19
The Industries of Dubuque: Her Relations as a Trade Center, Dubuque: J. M. Elster and Company, Publishers, 1887, p. 68
Burggraaf, Mike and Southard, Tom. The Antique Bottles of Iowa. Northfield, OH: Ohio Wholesale Copy Service, 1998
