Trade House Tackle, Part 21:Oklahoma Tire & Supply Co. One of my favorite subcategories of trade tackle were those marketed by auto supply stores. Today, most collectors are puzzled by the connection between automobiles and fishing tackle, but in the early history of the car little distinction was made between motoring and sporting pursuits. For […]
Category Archives: Trade House Tackle
Trade House Tackle, Part 20:F.W. Woolworth’s Frank Winfield Woolworth founded a true American iconic institution, and changed the way American business conducted their affair. The company he founded, F.W. Woolworth & Co., also sold a ton of fishing tackle, some of it branded. Born in upstate New York in 1852, he began working in a […]
Trade House Tackle, Part 19:Scheel’s Hardware of Minnesota Scheel’s is a name that is very familiar to most people from my part of the country–Minnesota. They also sold fishing tackle for a great number of years. The firm was founded in 1902 by Frederick A. Scheel, who opened a general store in the small town […]
Trade House Tackle, Part 18:Bigelow & Dowse of Boston With companies such as Shapleigh, Simmons, and Hibbard staunchly midwestern, we don’t often associate the great eastern cities with wholesale hardware. However, there were a number of large hardware concerns on the East Coast that trafficked in a whole lot of fishing tackle. One of these […]
Trade House Tackle, Part 17:J.C. Penney & Co.James Cash Penney (1875-1971) founded the store that bore his name in 1902 in Kemmerer, Wyoming. A lumberjack by trade, he saw the future of retailing long before most others, and by 1912 owned 34 stores across the Rocky Mountains. He began expanding eastward and by 1929 there […]
Trade House Tackle, Part 16:Henry C. Reed Co. of MilwaukeeToday’s 52 for 52 entry is an interesting old sporting goods house from the Cream City. I’ve written a lot about Milwaukee’s tackle trade, but I’ve yet to broach the subject of H.C. Reed Co. Today, we’ll talk a bit about this mysterious tackle vendor. Henry […]
Trade House Tackle, Part 15: The Tackle of the Canadian Tire Corporation, Ltd.Today we get another Canadian company that sold a ton of fishing tackle over the years, but often gets overlooked as a trade house.The Canadian Tire Corporation, Inc. is a massive company (they employ nearly 60,000 people today) with hundreds of branch operations […]
Fishing For History, Trade House Tackle
52 Trade Houses Part 14 The Tackle of General Merchandise Co. of Milwaukee
Trade House Tackle, Part 14:The Tackle of General Merchandise Co. of Milwaukee This week in 52 for 52 we are featuring one of the many mail order catalog companies that exploded in the post-war era. General Merchandise Co. of Milwaukee, Wisconsin grew from humble roots into a massive conglomerate that eventually got purchased by one […]
Collectible Fishing Empherma (Books, Catalogs, Photos, Etc), Fishing For History, Trade House Tackle
52 Trade Houses Part 13 Manhattan Marine & Electric Co
Trade House Tackle, Part 13:Manhattan Marine & Electric Co. of New York City One of my goals in 52 for 52 is to show everyone the sheer diversity of fishing tackle sellers in American history. So far, we’ve covered discount stores, department stores, wholesale hardware concerns, a bookseller, a plumbing supply store, and today, we […]
52 Trade Houses Part 12 Davidson’s Firearms of Greensboro NC Trade House Tackle, Part 12:Davidson’s Firearms of Greensboro, NC This episode of 52 for 52 will deal with one of my very favorite kinds of trade houses: gun dealers that sold fishing tackle. Throughout history many legendary gun names–Winchester, Remington, Browning, etc.–lent their names to […]
Antique Lures, Antique Reels, Fishing For History, Trade House Tackle
52 Trade Houses in 52 Weeks Part 11 Henry C. Lytton’s The Hub of Chicago
52 Trade Houses in 52 Weeks Part 11 Henry C. Lytton’s The Hub of Chicago Trade House Tackle, Part 11:Henry C. Lytton’s “The Hub” and its Fishing Tackle This week we get a fun little history of a venerable Chicago iconic institution–Henry C. Lytton’s “The Hub” stores and their foray into fishing tackle. Henry C. Lytton […]
Antique Lures, Antique Reels, Fishing For History, Trade House Tackle
52 Trade Houses in 52 Weeks Part 10 Van Camp Hardware of Indianapolis
52 Trade Houses in 52 Weeks Part 10 Van Camp Hardware of Indianapolis Trade House Tackle, Part 10:From Blacksmith Tools to Tackle:–Van Camp Hardware of Indianapolis Van Camp hardware is one of the legendary names in the wholesale hardware field. Founded in the nineteenth century in America’s heartland, it served the middle west for over […]
Antique Lures, Antique Reels, Fishing For History, Trade House Tackle
52 Trade Houses in 52 Weeks Part 9 Bostwick-Braun Company
52 Trade Houses in 52 Weeks Part 9 Bostwick-Braun Company Trade House Tackle, Part IX: The Bostwick-Braun Company of Toledo, Ohio The Bostwick-Braun Company is one of the oldest surviving corporations in the state of Ohio. Founded in 1855 by a pair of brothers–William and Charles B. Roff–from Racine, Wisconsin, it has served the Ohio […]
Antique Lures, Antique Reels, Fishing For History, Trade House Tackle
52 Trade Houses in 52 Weeks Part 8 A.C. McClurg
52 Trade Houses in 52 Weeks Part 8 A.C. McClurg Trade House Tackle, Part VIII The Bookseller’s Fishing Tackle, A.C. McClurg & Co. of Chicago One of the most surprising fishing tackle wholesalers has to be the Chicago firm of A.C. McClurg & Co., a name far more famous in book circles than in fishing ones. […]
Antique Lures, Antique Reels, Fishing For History, Trade House Tackle
52 Trade Houses in 52 Weeks Part 7 Lippman
52 Trade Houses in 52 Weeks Part 7 Lippman Trade House Tackle, Part VII Lippman’s Tool Shop Sporting Goods Company:The Little Sports Shop That Slayed A Giant This week’s edition of 52 for 52 details a largely forgotten Detroit-based sporting goods store known as Lippman’s Tool Shop Sporting Goods Company. It’s a bit of a […]
Fishing For History, Trade House Tackle
52 Trade Houses in 52 Weeks Part 6 Yates Sporting Goods of Arizona
52 Trade Houses in 52 Weeks Part 6 Yates Trade House Tackle, Part VI: The Yates Sporting Goods Stores of Arizona Who would have thought we’d be profiling not one but two Arizona trade houses in the first two months? Such is the sad state of knowledge concerning Southwestern fishing tackle. First it was the […]
Antique Lures, Fishing For History, Trade House Tackle
52 Trade Houses in 52 Weeks Part 5 Hobbs Supply
52 Trade Houses in 52 Weeks Part 5 Hobbs Supply W.H. Hobbs Supply Co. of Eau Claire, Wisconsin (Makers of the Bon Net Lure) W.H. Hobbs Supply Co. of Eau Claire, Wisconsin I love Wisconsin trade tackle, and not just because I grew up fishing Wisconsin waters. The Badger state was full of wholesalers and […]
Antique Lures, Fishing For History, Trade House Tackle
52 Trade Houses in 52 Weeks Part 4 Hudson’s Bay Company
52 Trade Houses in 52 Weeks Part 4 Hudson’s Bay Company of Canada Trade House Tackle, Part 4: Hudson’s Bay Company of Canada The Oldest Tackle Trade House in the World Perhaps the most legendary of all corporations in America is also the oldest commercial store in North America, and one of the oldest in […]
52 Trade Houses in 52 Weeks Part 3 Kerr Sport Shop of Beverly Hills Trade House Tackle, Part III: The Kerr Sport Shop of Beverly Hills: Fishing Tackle to the Stars Hollywood reached its Golden Age from 1930-1960, when such luminescent stars as Cary Grant, Gary Cooper and Bing Crosby became icons. Many of these […]
Antique Lures, Antique Reels, Trade House Tackle
52 Trade Houses in 52 Weeks Part 2 Yellow Front Store
52 Trade Houses in 52 Weeks Trade House Tackle, Part 2: The Yellow Front Stores of Arizona We don’t get very much trade tackle from the American Southwest, so when we do find a piece of tackle branded by a firm in this region, it is extra special. In this case, the company in question […]
Antique Lures, Antique Reels, Trade House Tackle
52 Trade Houses in 52 Weeks Part 1 Wyeth Hardware Company
52 Trade Houses in 52 Weeks Trade House Tackle, Part 1: Trade House Tackle Thursday, Over the course of the next year, we’ll be detailing the history of 52 companies that sold branded fishing tackle. 52 trade houses in 52 weeks — some obscure, some famous, and all available exclusively here on the Fin & […]
A Discourse on Trade Tackle Dr Todd and I decided to combine powers last year on a few fronts, besides the Fishing For History & Angling Echoes magazines, we tapped into our wonder twins powers to activate our internet powers, more specifically, our blog sites. For anyone who has attempted a site, a blog, a […]