Vigo County Historical Society

Historical Treasure Article

Historic Treasure of the Week - March 3, 1985
By Susie Dewey
Vigo County Historical Society

Charge book retells grocery's life

One man's treasure is another man's trash.

The old receipts, bills, day books and ledgers found in a South Fifth Street attic in 1978 have become treasures for the Historical Museum of the Wabash Valley, 1411 S. Sixth St.

Found stuffed into a wooden crate in a house built by the original owner, Henry Patt, the papers help reconstruct life in Terre Haute 100 years ago.

Patt owned rental property and a retail grocery store at 928 S. Second St. Four customers' charge books describe the store as selling "Fine Groceries, Flours of All Grades, Foreign and Domestic Fruits, Canned Fruits and Vegetables, and Selected Teas, Pure Coffees and Spices." The covers of the charge books warned customers to always bring the books for transactions.

In addition to foods, the store stocked "a complete assortment of goods usually kept in a first class store." These goods, incidentally, were delivered promptly free of expense to the customer.

A study of the books records that in addition to crackers, B. pigsfeet and coconut, needles, starch, bluing, popcorn and vanilla were delivered. Customers sometimes used the store as a bank, for cash is a frequently noted item in the books.

Personal account books for William Collier, W. Bogard, G. Upoff and James Barnes are part of the collection. The books were kept indiscriminately in pencil and ink. Accounts were frequently paid in partial amounts with the remainder transferred to next month's bill.

Eggs varied in price from month to month, but canned corn remained a stable 13 cents. Cranberries were a luxury item. Bread, popcorn and bluing were 5 cents. Coffee in 1888 was 30 cents. The April grocery bill in one book was $15.24.

Among the receipts found in the crate are several from Bauermeister and Busch at 100 and 102 Wabash Ave. In 1894 the firm was a wholesale and retail dealer of sugar-cured meats, pork and lard,

Patt bought a half dozen toboggans from Havens, Geddes and Co. in 1889. From Koepper and Waterman in Indianapolis he purchased six gallons of rock and rye for $15 plus a 75-cent deposit for the keg.

According to a G. W. Bevis receipt, Patt bought a spittoon for 42 cents, a three-pound tub of chicken feed and ax handles. Bevis sold vegetables, berries, fruits and plants.

In 1889 Patt purchased from and paid promptly to E. H. Bindley, Cook, Bell and Lowery a 611-612 Wabash. He was a customer of Bement and Rea and Co., 526-528 Wabash Ave. The receipt from Fred Biel, a wholesale dealer in cigars and tobacco at 409 Main St., opposite the opera house, admonishes customers that "Positively No Orders Filled For Parties Owing Bills Past Due."

The receipts and books were preserved in 1985 because the quality of paper was so good at the time. The high rag content kept material intact.

When Patt died in 1894, he left a widow, one daughter and six sons provided for.

The present owner of the family home is restoring the property and has researched the abstract of the house. After finding the crate of old papers, the owner first placed them aside and then gave them to the museum, where they have been sorted, preserved, catalogued and displayed.

A crate of trash is now a historical treasure.