Bio of BUTLER BROTHERS, Edward B., Charles and George, Hennepin Co., MN
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EXTRACTED FROM: History of Minneapolis, Gateway to the Northwest; 
Chicago-Minneapolis, The S J Clarke Publishing Co, 1923; Edited by: Rev. 
Marion Daniel Shutter, D.D., LL.D.; Volume I - Shutter (Historical); 
volume II - Biographical; volume III - Biographical
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BUTLER BROTHERS - Vol II, pg 208-213
(Edward B. Butler, Charles Butler & George Butler)
The story of the growth of Butler Brothers is worthy of much space in any work
recording the representative business enterprises of Minneapolis. "From a
fifty-foot front in Boston to the largest wholesaler in the world," is the
interesting story of forty-six years' growth of Butler Brothers.
The foundation of Butler Brothers was laid way back in 1871, when Edward B.
Butler, then a boy lacking several years of being old enough to vote, started
out on the road in the New England states to sell goods to retailers. His line
consisted of notions or "small wares." During the six years that he followed
that interesting calling he learned that certain specialties or "leaders" in his
line sold themselves. Whenever he wanted to sell these items all he had to do
was to show them and, of course, the same proposition held good when the
retailer in turn showed the specialties to his customers. Even at that early day
Mr. Butler manifested great foresight and the thought came to him, "How great
and interesting a thing it would be if a stock could be made up of these
specialties." He talked the matter over with his brothers, George and Charles,
and in February, 1877, at No. 9 Archer street, Boston, the firm of Butler
Brothers opened up a jobbing business. A sign on the little store informed the
public at large that the firm dealt in "specialties and small wares." That sign
meant exactly what it said, for at first the firm did not carry full lines. The
stock consisted of the quick-selling specialties that were popular with retailer
and consumer alike. Typical among the faddy goods sold by the new firm were
"splints" and "scrap pictures," the former being little pieces of wood in
various colors that sold for five cents a bunch. The women of that day had a fad
of fashioning the splints into various articles for household use and the scrap
pictures were sold for use in making up scrapbooks for the children. Many other
lines of a similar nature entered into the make-up of Butler Brothers' first
stock.
The business was remarkably successful from the start and Mr. Butler was ever on
the alert for new ideas for its further development. One day a very close friend
of Mr. Butler's-Jim Barker-was telling him of a popular type of retail
institution known as the "Dollar Store." These dollar stores were established in
most of the more important eastern cities and were popular because they featured
what then was thought to be popular-priced goods. Mr. Barker's business
connections gave him an intimate knowledge of the dollar store idea and he
passed along his information to Mr. Butler. Mr. Butler's alert mind grasped the
importance of that kind of business and he came to the conclusion that if the
dollar stores were so deservedly popular, a store that would feature the
lower-priced lines-nothing over five cents, for instance- would be even more
popular. He reasoned that nickels, being smaller than dollars, were more popular
coins, easier to get and much more plentiful. Therefore, he determined to give
his idea a tryout and immediately made up a case of twenty dollars worth of
goods to retail at five cents. He advertised his new line by postcard and this
was the forerunner of the "Our Drummer" catalogue, also of the great system of
wholesaling goods by mail at net prices. This idea of Mr. Butler's was
absolutely a new idea. It met with immediate approval of the merchants, who took
to it without any argument. Retailers were quick to realize the advantage and
soon Butler Brothers had a lively business in five-cent goods. Whether their
success was due only to a temporary craze or whether it was a new principle that
would revolutionize merchandising, the brothers did not know. They did know,
however, that they were so busy buying and selling five-cent goods that they did
not even. take the covers off of their other merchandise. It was not long before
it became evident that there was no craze about the thing but that it was a
sane, solid principle of selling that had come to stay. Thus was established the
value of always buying with the selling price in view, a principle which has
guided and influenced the buying of Butler Brothers from that day to this.
The growth of the business compelled the removal of Butler Brothers to larger
quarters and the following year they located in a store twenty by fifty-five
feet in size at No. 13 Avon street, Boston. In the fall of the same year it was
necessary again to move to larger quarters and the firm located at No. 26-28
Chauncey street, where it had a twenty by eighty store and basement. During all
this time the five-cent counter idea kept growing and growing, giving the firm
all it could do with its limited capital to get the goods and distribute them.
Early in the year 1879 a man by the name of Jason Bailey entered a store
operated by a sister of George H. Loughee, a prominent general merchant. He was
very much impressed with a five-cent counter in that store, the goods on which
had been purchased from Butler Brothers. He was so interested, in fact, that he
talked the matter over with Mr. Loughee and they decided to seek the counsel of
Butler Brothers on the proposition of starting an entire store to be devoted to
five-cent goods Butler Brothers endorsed the idea at once and agreed to make up
an eight hundred dollar assortment of five-cent goods for Mr. Bailey to use in
starting his store. On the 5th of February, 1879, the five-cent store of Bailey
& Company opened on Tremont Row, Boston, Mr. Bailey having paid three hundred
dollars in advance for two months rent for a building in which to house his
eight hundred dollar stock. In a few months Mr. Bailey purchased another
five-cent stock from Butler Brothers and opened another establishment on
Washington street, Boston. He was so successful in the conduct of those stores
that he soon accumulated enough to buy both buildings and subsequently
established a five-cent store in Philadelphia and another in New York. His was
the first five-cent store the world ever saw and out of it has grown all of the
five and ten cent stores, five, ten and twenty-five cent stores, and all other
types of variety stores in the country today. There have been many claimants for
this honor, but the facts as stated here are historically correct.
The second five-cent retail store was established by E. B. Butler himself at
Louisville, Kentucky, in 1879. He started it to demonstrate the strength of the
five-cent idea and to make a practical tryout of some advertising and selling
ideas that he had conceived as being appropriate for that kind of a store. While
arranging the stock in the store he aroused the curiosity of passers-by by
putting up in the window such signs as, "What is going on in Here? Wait and See"
Other signs read, "Don't Get Weary. The Suspense Will Be Over Soon." A small
crowd of people were in front of the store most of the time for two or three
days previous to the opening and on the opening day a big crowd came. Out of a
stock of three thousand dollars' worth of five-cent goods Mr. Butler disposed of
one thousand, seven hundred dollars' worth the first week. After trying out the
idea for a few weeks and gaining the experience he desired, Mr. Butler sold the
store to James A. Hart of Paxton, Illinois, who later became the well-known
baseball magnate.
But returning to the fortunes of Butler Brothers. About the latter part of May,
1879, the three brothers decided that the interests of their business demanded
that they get nearer the center of the country and they determined to open a
distributing house in Chicago. The decision made, they acted quickly, and a few
days later went to New York and arranged for merchandise for the Chicago
undertaking. They found manufacturers who believed in the new enterprise
sufficiently to give the firm the necessary extended dating on goods they
bought. Before leaving Boston the younger brother prepared a four-page catalog
of five-cent goods, announcing the establishment of the Chicago house. This
catalog was prepared before the goods were bought, even before they were sure
goods could be bought. No arrangements had been made at that time for a building
in Chicago but the catalog was made up with blank space left for the insertion
of the expected Chicago address. Charles and Edward B. Butler then went on to
Chicago and found a room at No. 200 Randolph street, fifty by two hundred feet
in size, with a large basement. This space they secured at a rental of one
hundred dollars a month.
At that time money was scarce but they purchased lumber enough to make the
necessary fixtures, consisting of tables, shelving and office railing. The
fixtures for the entire store cost some three hundred and forty dollars. The
most pretentious piece of furniture in the place was a large piano-legged desk
for the use of the proprietors. That piece of furniture cost eight dollars. It
was not a place at which to sit, for they had no time for that. It was merely a
place to rush to and give an appearance of dignity to the store. The stock of
this establishment was entirely five-cent goods. In June, 1879, it was opened
for business. Meanwhile, the location of the store had been telegraphed back to
George Butler in Boston and he got out the catalogs, inserting the later
material that had already been arranged for, and mailed them to merchants in the
Chicago vicinity.
The success of the store was remarkable from the outset. It was literally
swamped with trade and the firm took in more money than it ever saw before. The
following year, in 1880, ten-cent goods were added to the stock and the same
selling methods applied to them. In January of 1880 the firm opened a store in
New York city, at No. 370 Broadway, where they sold five-cent goods only. Later
they added ten-cent goods. Subsequently the Boston store was sold and the firm
concentrated its efforts in Chicago and New York. It was the ambition of Butler
Brothers to branch out beyond five and ten-cent goods and as fast as capital
permitted, one department after another was added, and the old lines developed
until each became in itself a complete wholesale business.
They continued business with Chicago and New York city as the main centers until
1898, when they opened another house in St. Louis. In 1907, still another house
was opened, this time in Minneapolis, and in 1911 they established a store in
Dallas, Texas. These five houses now represent the main centers of Butler
Brothers' efforts. In 1921 another great building was added to the Chicago
house. These twin buildings are fifteen stories high, with three basements,
covering two full city blocks, with a freight loading platform eight hundred
feet long. Not only in size but in location and equipment, the Chicago house of
the firm of Butler Brothers is undoubtedly the greatest wholesale plant in the
world.
The total floor area of the buildings now occupied by Butler Brothers in the
five great distributing centers is over five million square feet, or about one
hundred and fifteen acres.
In the forty-five years of its existence Butler Brothers has grown from a small
one-room store in Boston to the largest wholesale business in the world, having
five great distributing houses, world-wide buying facilities, and the confidence
and patron age of two hundred thousand retail merchants. The facts as set forth
in this sketch are conspicuous evidence of the advantages which the retail
merchants of America have found in buying goods by mail through the net price
catalog issued by this great concern.
Edward B. Butler, founder of Butler Brothers, is chairman of the board of
directors of the enterprise and a member of the executive committee; F. S.
Cunningham is president; Walter Scott of New York and L. C. Burr are vice
presidents; and Mr. Burr is also general manager of the Minneapolis House.