TREDWAY, Alfred

Family History: http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=treadway&id=I22346

Photo from 1976 advertisement. Photo courtesy: Bob Reding

TREDWAY, Alfred. (New York, NY, Aug. 11, 1817--Dubuque, IA, Nov. 5, 1897). Tredway began his mercantile career at the age of eighteen as a clerk in the hardware store of Smith and Ruthven. He remained with the company and its successors until 1843 when he opened his own store at Lyons, New York. He remained there until 1851 when he moved west and settled in Dubuque.

He considered the business possibilities and decided upon establishing a foundry and machine shop. Returning to New York, he formed a partnership with H. A. Rouse and together they purchased tools, machinery and appliances needed for their business. Tredway and Rouse founded the IOWA IRON WORKS. Tredway remained in the foundry and machinery business only two years before selling his interest to Jesse P. FARLEY.

In 1853 Tredway and William ANDREW became business partners and founded the business of Andrew and Tredway at 484 and 488 Main Street. Tredway soon purchased his partner's interest and brought his sons into the firm. This company, then known as A. TREDWAY AND SONS, was advertised as the first hardware wholesaler west of the MISSISSIPPI RIVER. Tredway then moved the company to Iowa Street.

By the late 1800s, the company owned a large store on Main Street and three stores on Iowa Street. Tredway salesmen traveled across Iowa and into regions of Illinois, South Dakota, Nebraska, and Wisconsin selling merchandise to other hardware outlets.

In 1929 the business founded by Tredway was purchased and became the KRETSCHMER-TREDWAY COMPANY. The merger expanded the company's business into the fields of heating, air conditioning, and plumbing.

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Source:

"A Pioneer Called," Dubuque Herald, November 6, 1897, p. 8