Background Information
Prior to the beginning of America’s Industrial Revolution in the mid-19th century, most retail operations were small and merchandise was locally manufactured. However, the Industrial Revolution brought railroads, telegraphs, and the capacity for mass production. These changes made larger retail operations possible.
In the late 1830s, when settlement in the Fox Valley began in earnest, small locally-owned stores opened to serve the needs of the area’s new residents. These stores were generally specialized, dealing in one type of merchandise and serving a relatively small area. For example, Appleton residents would likely visit different shops, all owned by their neighbors, for their groceries, clothes (a tailor and a milliner shop), tools and horseshoes (a blacksmith or hardware store), furniture (a chair factory), medical needs (drug store), lanterns, plates, or other household goods (tin shop), shoes (boot and shoe shops), buckets or barrels (cooper shop), etc. MORE
Developed by the Outagamie County Historical Society with funding from Cooperative Education Service Agency 6, University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, and the U.S. Department of Education. © 2006 OCHS.
