BRITTON BROS. BIG BRICK STORE – The brothers started in a small way in 1877, with what the Star would later describe as a “wheelbarrow load of goods in the little 14-foot room on Race st.” In 1882 they boasted that they were manufacturing more harness than anyone else in Hunterdon County. They also made saddles and leather fly nets (stringy garments draped over horses to disconcert and dislodge horse flies). When Hugh Warford died in 1887, he was unable to take 10 Bridge Street with him, so the Britton brothers bought the three-story brick building for $3,200 in 1888.
It was the biggest department store in the county. (See Appendix C for a complete list of the store’s merchandise of 1915.) According to a 1916 booklet called Frenchtown Uptodate, “The large aisles afford patrons ample space to pass one another, chairs placed along the counters afford them an opportunity to rest in looking over goods which they are contemplating purchasing. The wide shelves are loaded with all kinds of dress goods, suits, hats, ladies’ and gents’ furnishings, laces, furs, carpets, an assortment of cut glass ware and gifts, toys, games, hardware, while in the basement is employed I.W. “Brice” Swick, who for years has manufactured harness for the firm. (This is Isaac W. Swick, 1866-1929)
“This store is the one which has installed a system of cash boxes moving swiftly from one department to another, fitted up in the same manner as the stores located in the large cities.” Ruth Apgar, who lived next door, told me that her job was to sit in a tiny elevated office in the middle of the store. Clerks in the various departments would send sales slips and money to her in little metal boxes that moved along chains. She’d send back change and receipts.
By 1922, the store was managed by William G. Britton.
The Britton estate sold the building in 1930 to C. Wilmot Milbury.
– Rick Epstein, June 7, 2020
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Uptown Correspondent – Iman R. Abdulfattah – Miller’s 5 & 10¢ Store – Frenchtown, NJ http://t.co/wbvj5iwdR2