Ebenezer whyte

About the store moved to McGee. Whyte, Ebenezer Whyte, Jr. These brothers hold a unique position in Kansas City merchandising since they were the founders of the city's first chain stores, the Whyco Stores. The Whyte brothers had received early training in the business from their father, Ebenezer Whyte, Sr. He arrived in the United States from Scotland in as a draper salesman for a Scottish woolen house. Sophia had received her formal education in Paris. When Ebenezer Whyte, Sr. He had left his wife and their five children in Chicago.

Whyte was often to recount this story to his children and grandchildren. Both men chose to settle in Kansas City and Whyte wrote back to his family, God willing, I will come back for you in two years.

South Location - Whytes first store was way out south at Main. At the time the business of Kansas City was centered around 5th and Main.

The store carried many more items than groceries and fruit. Shelves were lined with glassware, wash bowls, pitchers, tinware, queensware and crockery. Heavy hickory baskets and woven clothes baskets were hung across the front of the store.

Bushel baskets and barrels of merchandise and grocery items filled the space between sidewalk and curb. Since Kansas City's business was moving south, Whyte's location proved to be good. He prospered and sent for his family. A home was established at 9th and Cherry. The four young sons joined in the business, each taking an active part.

Ebenezer Whyte was an autocrat, typical of his generation of English and Scottish gentlemen. In his store, he wore no necktie but a gold collar button with a diamond secured his stiff collar.

He sent his collars each week to Troy, N. In the early s he built Waverly Block - the block of East 11th. The family occupied the room corner unit. When his sons married they brought their brides to live there.

The remainder of the block, built like the row houses of the East, was rented. The and units contained 12 to 14 rooms each. It was about 15 feet back from the sidewalk. Above each entrance door were leaded stained-glass transoms. Each apartment had fire-places and its own coal-fired hot-water unit in the basement. The whole block was heated by a steam system whose furnace was in an attached boiler house on the alley. In winter the furnace took over a ton of coal a day. After the death of Ebenezer Whyte in his four sons took over the business.

Their mother was named president of the company and is so designated in early city directories. Home Delivery - The early Whyte stores, at Walnut and later at McGee, had two horse-drawn delivery wagons with the company name on the sides. About the wagons were replaced by trucks.

Deliveries were made of orders placed by phone or given by customers who came into the store. The other large grocery of those days was Quinns at 5th and Walnut. In the first decade of the century Fred Wolferman moved to Walnut from his father's butcher shop on 9th.

In the Whyte stores discontinued the sale of wine and spirits, anticipating the 18th amendment. However the corporate name was not changed. The Whyte store on McGee was about 75 feet wide and a half block deep, to the alley. The second floor was the bakery for bread, cakes and pastries. There were three front display windows. The north window was refrigerated and adjoined the meat department whose storage walk-in refrigerator was near the rear of the store.

The center window would slide upwards to permit selling to passers-by. The south window was fixed and at one time the coffee roaster was installed there. The refrigerated meat display was an innovation. At the old Walnut store, as was customary in those days, carcasses or quarters of beef, lamb and swine had been hung on meat hooks outside the store.

Walls were covered with shelves to the ceiling feet high with ladders on tracks to give access to the upper shelves. Some of the lower shelves were replaced with tilt-out, glass-fronted bins in which were stored dried beans, dried fruits, sugars, teas, coffees and spices. These were sacked each time a customer wanted some. Jams, jellies, peanut butter, lard, pickles, olives, cookies, crackers, cheeses were all in bulk and weighed or counted out to order.

Live chickens, turkeys, ducks and geese were brought to the store daily by farmers and penned in an area in the basement. Each day a sufficient number of poultry was dressed out for sale. There were no packaged meats. Heritage Learn about Ebenezer's homeland. Traditional Dress Put your face in a costume from Ebenezer's homelands. Family Time Line. Spouse and Children.

Parents and Siblings. Ebenezer Whyte. Sophia Pritchard. William W. George Pritchard Whyte Jr. Ebenezer E. Whyte Jr. Anna Whyte. Frank Daniel Whyte. World Events 8. Age 1.

Jenners was founded by Charles Jenner as a department store for the community. The original building was destroyed by a fire in but, with a new design in mind, the store was reopened in with new features.

It was sold to the House of Fraser in , which in , made much needed improvements to the store. Age 6.