Whitall Tatum Co.

Reprinted from "INSULATORS - Crown Jewels of the Wire", February 1977, page 32

Ran into a reference the other day that might be of interest to our historians trying to pinpoint a date. I was reading in a biography of Bernard M. Baruch by Margaret Coit, and I quote from page 62:

"His salary was three dollars a week. It was 1889 and Bernard Baruch was 19 years old. He had made his start. He was a man of business. He was office boy for Whitall, Tatum and Company, wholesale dealers in glass, at 86 Barclay Street. He ran errands for the clerks, indexed the letterbook, etc., etc."

Then on page 63 one sentence:

"So to Baruch, the plate-glass windows of Whitall, Tatum and Company must have been like prison walls."

This is all I've found so far, but evidently at that time Whitall, Tatum and Company was a very prosperous firm.

No reference found yet as to how much of their business was from insulators.

Mel Boatman