Seavey Hardware Company — the founding fixed

Established 5 October 1881 – the company's later course stands in the Business record

Founded: 5 October 1881. The Business entry for Seavey Hardware carried the founding year as open; the record fixes it. At the company's reorganization and incorporation in the spring of 1914, a Fort Wayne newspaper account, quoted in full in Griswold's 1917 biographical sketch of the founder, stated: "The Seavey Hardware Company was established in Fort Wayne, October 5, 1881, by the late G. W. Seavey, and has continued as a successful and growing business during the long intervening years." Griswold's own narrative agrees: Seavey came to Fort Wayne in 1879, practiced law with his brother-in-law Perry A. Randall, took up the development of timber lands, and "in 1881, engaged in the hardware business, as the founder of the large and important business now conducted by the Seavey Hardware Company."

Founder: Gideon Webster Seavey (born 14 February 1848, near Prairieville, Lee County, Illinois; died 13 March 1893). He was graduated from the literary department of the University of Michigan at twenty-two, was class poet, founded a weekly newspaper, the Chronicle, at Hoopston, Illinois, and practiced law before coming to Fort Wayne. He headed the hardware house until his death, and was one of the organizers and supporters of the Fort Wayne Commercial Club. His profile stands in the Founders & Chief Executives record.

Course, from the 1914 account: The company originally occupied the building at the northwest corner of Columbia and Clinton streets. By 1888 the business had outgrown it, and Seavey bought the building at 121 West Main Street, where the house remained twenty-five years. Early in the fall of 1913 the company purchased the building at the northwest corner of Harrison and Pearl streets, formerly occupied by the Fort Wayne & Northern Indiana Traction Company, and the stock was moved there in September 1913. The new corporation took over the entire business and property on 1 February 1914, continuing the wholesale, retail and manufacturing business and enlarging the sheet-metal and roofing departments. Its officers were Walter R. Seavey, the founder's only son — sixteen years in the business — president and general manager; C. E. Greer, vice-president, with the company twenty-two years; W. S. Cutshall, secretary and treasurer, formerly city controller; and A. S. Coverdale, chairman of the board; the remaining directors were Henry J. Kaiser and Charles Wermuth.

Standing: The house at Seavey's death was already "one of the oldest and largest hardware establishments of northern Indiana." The company's later course — its long occupancy of the Randall Building at 616–618 South Harrison Street — stands in the Business entry for Seavey Hardware Company, which this entry amends only as to the founding.

Sources:

1. B. J. Griswold, The Pictorial History of Fort Wayne, Vol. II (1917), biographical sketch of Gideon W. Seavey — the founder's life, the 1881 entry into hardware, and the spring-1914 Fort Wayne newspaper account of the reorganization quoted in full (establishment date, the Columbia-and-Clinton and 121 West Main quarters, the 1913 Harrison-and-Pearl purchase, the 1914 officers).
2. Businesses — "Seavey Hardware Company," the entry this one amends (the Randall Building occupancy; the founding carried open there).
3. Founders & CEOs — "Gideon Webster Seavey — the hardware house" (the founder's profile).