mulester7
LIVE from Lake Ouachita
If you were in the market for a watch in 1880, would you know where to
get one? You would go to a store, right? Well, of course you could do
that, but if you wanted one that was cheaper and a bit better than
most of the store watches, you went to the train station! Sound a bit
funny? Well, for about 500 towns across the northern United States,
that's where the best watches were found.
Why were the best watches found at the train station? The railroad
company wasn't selling the watches, not at all. The telegraph operator
was. Most of the time the telegraph operator was located in the
railroad station because the telegraph lines followed the railroad
tracks from town to town. It was usually the shortest distance and the
right-of-ways had already been secured for the rail line.
Most of the station agents were also skilled telegraph operators and
that was the primary way that they communicated with the railroad.
They would know when trains left the previous station and when they
were due at their next station. And it was the telegraph operator who
had the watches. As a matter of fact they sold more of them than
almost all the stores combined for a period of about 9 years.
This was all arranged by "Richard", who was a telegraph operator
himself. He was on duty in the North Redwood, Minnesota train station
one day when a load of watches arrived from the east. It was a huge
crate of pocket watches. No one ever came to claim them.
So Richard sent a telegram to the manufacturer and asked them what
they wanted to do with the watches. The manufacturer didn't want to
pay the freight back, so they wired Richard to see if he could sell
them. So Richard did. He sent a wire to every agent in the system
asking them if they wanted a cheap, but good, pocket watch. He sold
the entire case in less than two days and at a handsome profit.
That started it all. He ordered more watches from the watch company
and encouraged the telegraph operators to set up a display case in the
station offering high quality watches for a cheap price to all the
travelers. It worked! It didn't take long for the word to spread and,
before long, people other than travelers came to the train station to
buy watches.
Richard became so busy that he had to hire a professional watch maker
to help him with the orders. That was Alvah. And the rest, as they
say, is history.
The business took off and soon expanded to many other lines of dry goods.
Richard and Alvah left the train station and moved their company to
Chicago -- and it's still there.
IT'S A LITTLE KNOWN FACT that for a while in the 1880's, the biggest
watch retailer in the country was at the train station.
It all started with a telegraph operator: Richard Sears and his
partner Alvah Roebuck!
(for you youngsters, the Sears store was called Sears and Roebuck when
I was a boy)
get one? You would go to a store, right? Well, of course you could do
that, but if you wanted one that was cheaper and a bit better than
most of the store watches, you went to the train station! Sound a bit
funny? Well, for about 500 towns across the northern United States,
that's where the best watches were found.
Why were the best watches found at the train station? The railroad
company wasn't selling the watches, not at all. The telegraph operator
was. Most of the time the telegraph operator was located in the
railroad station because the telegraph lines followed the railroad
tracks from town to town. It was usually the shortest distance and the
right-of-ways had already been secured for the rail line.
Most of the station agents were also skilled telegraph operators and
that was the primary way that they communicated with the railroad.
They would know when trains left the previous station and when they
were due at their next station. And it was the telegraph operator who
had the watches. As a matter of fact they sold more of them than
almost all the stores combined for a period of about 9 years.
This was all arranged by "Richard", who was a telegraph operator
himself. He was on duty in the North Redwood, Minnesota train station
one day when a load of watches arrived from the east. It was a huge
crate of pocket watches. No one ever came to claim them.
So Richard sent a telegram to the manufacturer and asked them what
they wanted to do with the watches. The manufacturer didn't want to
pay the freight back, so they wired Richard to see if he could sell
them. So Richard did. He sent a wire to every agent in the system
asking them if they wanted a cheap, but good, pocket watch. He sold
the entire case in less than two days and at a handsome profit.
That started it all. He ordered more watches from the watch company
and encouraged the telegraph operators to set up a display case in the
station offering high quality watches for a cheap price to all the
travelers. It worked! It didn't take long for the word to spread and,
before long, people other than travelers came to the train station to
buy watches.
Richard became so busy that he had to hire a professional watch maker
to help him with the orders. That was Alvah. And the rest, as they
say, is history.
The business took off and soon expanded to many other lines of dry goods.
Richard and Alvah left the train station and moved their company to
Chicago -- and it's still there.
IT'S A LITTLE KNOWN FACT that for a while in the 1880's, the biggest
watch retailer in the country was at the train station.
It all started with a telegraph operator: Richard Sears and his
partner Alvah Roebuck!
(for you youngsters, the Sears store was called Sears and Roebuck when
I was a boy)
