Sugar & Spice: stories on the Erie Canal
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One of the most common businesses along the Erie Canal was the general store. Canal stores could be found practically every time you turned around. By its very nature the Erie Canal created a group of ready-made customers for anyone who had the opportunity to serve their needs.Once a barge or packet boat entered the canal, that boat was limited as to where it could go.
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That is, it was stuck to moving only on the canal. The boat itself was limited as to what it could carry. As much space as possible was needed for the cargo, whether it be wheat, carpets or people. Many supplies had to be obtained while the boat was in route on the canal. Stores provided those supplies.
Canal stores carried a wide variety of goods; from head-to-toe, nose-to-tail or bow-to-stern. Stores carried almost every conceivable item for man mule and boat. Medicines, cooking utensils, candy, meat and vegetables, raingear, hats, shoes, bolts of cotton cloth were always in stock. Hay, oats, straw harnesses and horse collars were usually available. Items for the operation of the canal boats, such as pike poles, towing ropes, fenders and small ramps for getting the draft animals on and off the canal boat, were also carried.
Putman's Lock Stand was a family business. The 1855 New York State Census lists 65-year-old Garret Putman's occupation as Grocer, as is his 24-year-old son John. Another son living in the household, 35-year-old Dow Putman is listed as a Farmer. He would have provided the Lock Stand with meat, fruits, vegetables, hay, etc.
The three women of this household, Garret's wife Mary, 26-year-old daughter Catherine and Dow's wife Margaret would most likely been heavily involved with the operation of the Lock Stand.
The next household listed in the 1855 census is for 29-year-old Jarvis Putman and his wife Deborah. His occupation is listed as shoemaker. It is believed this is also a son of Garret Putman. Jarvis would undoubtedly been setting shoes at the Lock Stand, in addition to other types of leather goods that would have been in demand on a canal boat.
Brown's Cash Store was also a family affair. Four brothers, Thomas, Michael Edward and John moved to Fort Hunter from Mayfield in the late 1860s. Edward and Michael were the proprietors of the store. Thomas was a deliveryman working there with horse and wagon. John ran a hotel that was located nearby.
The store also carried meats and general food commodities usually carried in bulk like sacks of flour and items sold from barrels. The Fort Hunter Post Office was in the store, as was a saloon. Brown's, too, sold hay and grains for the animals that pulled the canal boats. Brown's was robbed several times through the years. After the last robbery in 1916, the store was burned and never rebuilt.
The items in this display are all typical of merchandise found in Erie Canal Stores and date from the middle 1800s. The crockery is from the Cohen's Big Canal Store in Sprakers Basin, Montgomery County. Other items in the display include medicines for animals and people, tins of coffee, tobacco and other consumables, mule shoes, ropes and harness, and general merchandise that would be used by the passengers or crew on the canal boats.
Erie Canal stores could vary widely in their sizes and ambitions. They would run from the rather modest Putman's Lock Stand, through the more standard sized Brown's Cash Store and larger Cohen's Big Canal Store, up to the largest emporiums that could be found in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Albany. Cohen's even advertised their own brand of washing machine.
Stores on the Erie Canal could also project an aura that was far from ideal. Putman's Lock Stand was described by a traveler in 1873 as:
"A sparse collection of shabby buildings is near the lock foremost being the canal grocery, a squat, shingled structure with a portico in front. Here is gathered a pack of ill-favored fellows, vagabonds and idlers...The interior is gloomy, and has a very insalubrious atmosphere; but there is no article in the range of an ordinary boatman's necessities that cannot be obtained at this mart."
Harper's New Monthly Magazine {1873.1S1}
This exhibit was made possible in part by a Parent and Child Library Services grant from the New York State Library, New York State Education Department.
Exhibit scripts and historic photographs were provided by the Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site in Fort Hunter, NY.
Canal stores carried a wide variety of goods; from head-to-toe, nose-to-tail or bow-to-stern. Stores carried almost every conceivable item for man mule and boat. Medicines, cooking utensils, candy, meat and vegetables, raingear, hats, shoes, bolts of cotton cloth were always in stock. Hay, oats, straw harnesses and horse collars were usually available. Items for the operation of the canal boats, such as pike poles, towing ropes, fenders and small ramps for getting the draft animals on and off the canal boat, were also carried.
Putman's Lock Stand was a family business. The 1855 New York State Census lists 65-year-old Garret Putman's occupation as Grocer, as is his 24-year-old son John. Another son living in the household, 35-year-old Dow Putman is listed as a Farmer. He would have provided the Lock Stand with meat, fruits, vegetables, hay, etc.
The three women of this household, Garret's wife Mary, 26-year-old daughter Catherine and Dow's wife Margaret would most likely been heavily involved with the operation of the Lock Stand.
The next household listed in the 1855 census is for 29-year-old Jarvis Putman and his wife Deborah. His occupation is listed as shoemaker. It is believed this is also a son of Garret Putman. Jarvis would undoubtedly been setting shoes at the Lock Stand, in addition to other types of leather goods that would have been in demand on a canal boat.
Brown's Cash Store was also a family affair. Four brothers, Thomas, Michael Edward and John moved to Fort Hunter from Mayfield in the late 1860s. Edward and Michael were the proprietors of the store. Thomas was a deliveryman working there with horse and wagon. John ran a hotel that was located nearby.
The store also carried meats and general food commodities usually carried in bulk like sacks of flour and items sold from barrels. The Fort Hunter Post Office was in the store, as was a saloon. Brown's, too, sold hay and grains for the animals that pulled the canal boats. Brown's was robbed several times through the years. After the last robbery in 1916, the store was burned and never rebuilt.
The items in this display are all typical of merchandise found in Erie Canal Stores and date from the middle 1800s. The crockery is from the Cohen's Big Canal Store in Sprakers Basin, Montgomery County. Other items in the display include medicines for animals and people, tins of coffee, tobacco and other consumables, mule shoes, ropes and harness, and general merchandise that would be used by the passengers or crew on the canal boats.
Erie Canal stores could vary widely in their sizes and ambitions. They would run from the rather modest Putman's Lock Stand, through the more standard sized Brown's Cash Store and larger Cohen's Big Canal Store, up to the largest emporiums that could be found in Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse and Albany. Cohen's even advertised their own brand of washing machine.
Stores on the Erie Canal could also project an aura that was far from ideal. Putman's Lock Stand was described by a traveler in 1873 as:
"A sparse collection of shabby buildings is near the lock foremost being the canal grocery, a squat, shingled structure with a portico in front. Here is gathered a pack of ill-favored fellows, vagabonds and idlers...The interior is gloomy, and has a very insalubrious atmosphere; but there is no article in the range of an ordinary boatman's necessities that cannot be obtained at this mart."
Harper's New Monthly Magazine {1873.1S1}
This exhibit was made possible in part by a Parent and Child Library Services grant from the New York State Library, New York State Education Department.
Exhibit scripts and historic photographs were provided by the Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site in Fort Hunter, NY.