Public DetroitSeedsCompanyThing
Good Wikipedia Article: The pages on Dexter M. Ferry, D. M. Ferry & Co., and Dexter M. Ferry, Jr., all substantially written by Andrew Jameson, are exceptionally good. This article (here) is substantially similar to Jameson's WP article because we have both used the same sources. Michigan Transportation History will not maintain this article as the WP article is just as good.
The D. M. Ferry & Company started at the dissolution of the partnership Gardner, Ferry & Church? of Miles T. Gardner, Eber F. Church?, and Dexter M. Ferry. Annual sales of the partnership had been around $6,000 and the firm was located on Monroe Avenue. In 1865, Ferry bought out Gardner and two years later became D. M. Ferry & Co.1
In 1879, Ferry incorporated the business (under the same name) and capitalized it at $750,000. James A. McMillan was selected as Vice President and H. K. White, C. C. Bowen and A. E. White served as directors; others within the McMillan syndicate served as officers. The company soon bought up the Detroit Seed Company?. By 1890, annual sales amounted to $2 millions, and the firm continued to grow. Under Ferry's leadership, D. M. Ferry & Co. became by 1900 the largest retail seed distributor in the U.S. Ferry's innovation in business occurred in the retail marketing of garden seeds. He began marketing a complete assortment of seeds in packets in a store display that a retailer could set up in their shop. Prior to Ferry's sales of seeds in packages ("envelopes" as they were called), only the Shakers had distributed seeds in such a manner, but these exchanges occurred only among themselves within the Shaker community and the seeds were not for sale. Ferry also included brightly colored pictures on the packages and began tailoring store displays to the growing conditions around the retail location. These innovations quickly caught on, and Ferry had created a new industry.2
By the middle of the 1880s, the company employed 1,500 men plus an additional 300 traveling salesmen. In January 1886, its warehouse at in the block of Brush, Croghan, Lafayette and Randolph streets was destroyed by fire.3 Following this disaster, Ferry rebuilt, and by the end of the decade occupied a four story building, 300 acre seed farm in Greenfield Township.4 By 1890, the company produced around 35,000 lbs. of onion seed and about 93,000 lbs. of beet seed. It had 400 employees at the warehouse plus an additional 400 at the seed farms. It's distribution network was extensive; Ferry distributed to 80,000 merchants and shipped 50 million packages in 1883 (500 traincar-loads). It distributed over 325,000 catalogs and employed around 400 traveling salesmen.5
Ferry-Morse Seed Company and Harris Moran were merged into Harris Moran Seed Company in July of 1997.
1. ⇑ Frederick Carlisle, Chronography of Notable Events in the History of the Northwest Territory and Wayne County (Detroit: Wayne County Historical and Pioneer Society, 1890), 441; Charles Richard Tuttle, General History of the State of Michigan (Detroit: R. D. S. Tyler & co., 1874), 583-584; Ferry-Morse Seed Company, "Corporate Information--Where it Began," 2010. ⇑
2. ⇑ Ferry-Morse Seed Company, "Corporate Information--The First Seed Packets," 2010. ⇑
3. ⇑ Frederick Carlisle, Chronography of Notable Events in the History of the Northwest Territory and Wayne County (Detroit: Wayne County Historical and Pioneer Society, 1890), 441; Charles Richard Tuttle, General History of the State of Michigan (Detroit: R. D. S. Tyler & co., 1874), 583-584. ⇑
4. ⇑ Silas Farmer, History of Detroit and Wayne County and Early Michigan: A Chronological Cyclopedia of the Past and Present, 3rd ed. rev. and enl. (Detroit: S. Farmer & co. for Muncell & co., New York, 1890), 5. ⇑
5. ⇑ Silas Farmer, History of Detroit and Wayne County and Early Michigan: A Chronological Cyclopedia of the Past and Present, 3rd ed. rev. and enl. (Detroit: S. Farmer & co. for Muncell & co., New York, 1890), 773. ⇑
Ferry Morse Seed Company — http://www.ferry-morse.com/
Good Wikipedia Article: The pages on Dexter M. Ferry, D. M. Ferry & Co., and Dexter M. Ferry, Jr., all substantially written by Andrew Jameson, are exceptionally good. This article (here) is substantially similar to Jameson's WP article because we have both used the same sources. Michigan Transportation History will not maintain this article as the WP article is just as good.
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