by Gary Hoover | Sep 30, 2022 | Articles, Articles, Articles, Foodservice and Lodging, Newsletters, Other Industries, Retailing
This article was originally published by the Archbridge Institute. I often hear people say that they dislike chain stores or chain restaurants, “big box” stores, or franchises. America has long had a love-hate relationship with the big chains. Understanding the...
by Gary Hoover | Sep 2, 2022 | Uncategorized, Videos
by Gary Hoover | Aug 23, 2022 | Articles, Articles, Business in General, Newsletters, Other Industries
(Photo above: Guardian Building, Detroit, Michigan) America’s great skyscrapers, museums, hotels, train stations, churches, and other structures reflect the ambitions and dreams of our society. Funded by the wealth generated by our economic system, they are...
by Gary Hoover | Apr 17, 2022 | Articles, Articles, Consumer Products, Newsletters, Other Industries
Few industries are more important to modern life than the chemical industry. Almost everything we touch, the clothes we wear, and much of what we eat contains chemicals or was processed by chemicals. Yet the companies are usually out of sight of...
by Gary Hoover | Jan 14, 2022 | Articles, Articles, Biographies, Consumer Products, Newsletters, Other Industries
Isaac Merritt Singer (1811-1875) had a dream: to become a great actor on the stage, performing Shakespeare to accolades. For almost the first forty years of his life, he failed to achieve any success in this pursuit. Continually tinkering with machines, he...
by Gary Hoover | Oct 14, 2021 | Articles, Newsletters, Other Industries, Student Essay Contest
This week we proudly present another one of the top essays submitted by high school students. You can see that we had many great essays and picking the top ones was difficult. This essay won our second highest prize. Gary Hoover Executive Director...
by Gary Hoover | Sep 5, 2021 | Articles, Articles, Data, Data, Other Industries, Transportation
In the twentieth century, no industry created more giant American companies than the petroleum industry. In 1917, big oil represented six of the fifty largest American companies. By 1955, eleven oil companies made the top fifty industrial firms in Fortune...
by Gary Hoover | Aug 7, 2021 | Articles, Consumer Products, Newsletters, Other Industries
Early in the twentieth century, the Kimberly-Clark paper company pioneered “sanitary napkins” with their Kotex brand. Magazine publishers resisted running ads for the innovative but very private product and retailers hesitated to display Kotex. The company...
by Gary Hoover | Aug 1, 2021 | Articles, Newsletters, Other Industries
For over 125 years, South Dakota’s Homestake Mine churned out ore loaded with gold and silver. Thousands of men worked the strike down to over a mile and a half below the earth’s surface, the deepest mine in the Western hemisphere as well as the American mine...
by Gary Hoover | Jul 4, 2021 | Articles, Articles, Articles, Other Industries, Technology, Transportation
On this 4th of July, it is appropriate to honor the long history of one of America’s great companies. Elisha Otis perfected the first commercially successful elevators, both for freight and passengers, before the Civil War. The organization he founded, the...
by Gary Hoover | Mar 19, 2021 | Articles, Articles, Consumer Products, Other Industries
In setting the stage for this story, I interject myself, because “I was there.” Setting the Stage The year is 1975. I am two years out of college, a junior securities analyst for institutional investor Citibank in New York. My veteran analyst boss Pete...
by Gary Hoover | Feb 26, 2021 | Articles, Articles, Articles, Biographies, Business in General, Newsletters, Other Industries, Technology
We are all familiar with the visionary entrepreneur Charles R. Schwab who pioneered the discount stock brokerage industry in the 1970s. But almost no one remembers the unrelated Charles M. Schwab, one of the most important business leaders in American history....
by Gary Hoover | Jan 14, 2021 | Articles, Articles, Biographies, Finance, Newsletters, Other Industries
This article was first published on the Archbridge Institute website. Few business leaders or entrepreneurs in American history have done more to enable progress and prosperity than Samuel Insull, a name little known today. Yet eighty years ago, he was one of the most...
by Gary Hoover | Jan 7, 2021 | Articles, Newsletters, Other Industries
Welcome to 2021! In 2020, our first full calendar year of operation, these American Business History newsletters have been read over 90,000 times. The number of pages viewed on our website rose from 1,500 per month at the beginning of 2020 to 4-5,000 a...
by Gary Hoover | Dec 18, 2020 | Articles, Articles, Biographies, Newsletters, Other Industries, Transportation
Every state has a fascinating history, including the role of business and entrepreneurship. The swamp that was much of Florida did not develop until the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Two men, both named Henry, were perhaps the most important in that...
by Gary Hoover | Dec 5, 2020 | Articles, Articles, Articles, Consumer Products, Media & Entertainment, Newsletters, Other Industries
Rudolph Wurlitzer and his sons Howard and Farny Wurlitzer The Wurlitzer Company is one of the most interesting companies we have studied. At their peak, their slogan was “Music for the Millions.” Here is the story of this formerly great company, based on...
by Gary Hoover | Oct 16, 2020 | Articles, Articles, Consumer Products, Newsletters
A current buzzword is “pivoting,” which means changing your company’s strategy and direction, often into entirely new businesses. Pivots are frequent in young companies trying to find the best markets and a footing for future opportunities. Here we look at...
by Gary Hoover | May 22, 2020 | Articles, Newsletters, Other Industries
Our business history articles often focus on the consumer products and services industries with which we all interact – from auto companies to department stores. Yet it’s important not to forget the industrial companies that lie in the background, and make all...
by Gary Hoover | Jan 9, 2020 | Articles, Newsletters, Other Industries
Here we go again – another decade of the “twenties” – hopefully these twenties roar in the good sense. This is a perfect time to look back at what was going on in business history one hundred years ago. 1920 was an important year in business history. ...
by Gary Hoover | Nov 7, 2019 | Articles, Articles, Articles, Biographies, Consumer Products, Newsletters, Other Industries
This article first appeared in the Archbridge Institute’s American Originals Series. Outside of the field of product and transportation design, too few people know who Raymond Loewy was. The best-known industrial designer, founder of the industrial...
by Gary Hoover | Oct 31, 2019 | Data, Data, Demography and Geography
by Gary Hoover | Oct 24, 2019 | Articles, Newsletters, Other Industries
With this newsletter, we begin a periodic series, “Whatever Became of?” As students of business history, we learn much from both success and failure. About 80% of the largest companies of America in the mid-twentieth century are no longer with us. ...
by Gary Hoover | Sep 19, 2019 | Data, Data, Demography and Geography
by Gary Hoover | Sep 12, 2019 | Articles, Articles, Articles, Articles, Biographies, Business in General, Foodservice and Lodging, Other Industries
This article first appeared on June 24, 2019 in The Archbridge Institute’s ‘American Originals’ series. Despite being often forgotten today, Henry J. Kaiser was one of the most unusual and diverse entrepreneurs in American history. Quitting school at...
by Gary Hoover | May 22, 2019 | Videos
by Gary Hoover | Mar 8, 2019 | Articles, Biographies, Other Industries
Originally published on ArchbridgeInstitute.org on October 29, 2018 This article first appeared on October 29, 2018 in The Archbridge Institute’s ‘American Originals’ series. The grandson of slaves, Arthur George Gaston was born in 1892 in Demopolis, Alabama, to Rosie...
by Gary Hoover | Dec 14, 2018 | Articles, Articles, Biographies, Foodservice and Lodging, Other Industries
This article first appeared on December 14, 2018 in The Archbridge Institute’s ‘American Originals’ series. One of the myths about great entrepreneurs is that they love risk and are big gamblers. In fact, they usually do everything they can to reduce risk and are...
by Gary Hoover | Sep 27, 2018 | Articles, Data, Data, Data, Foodservice and Lodging, Other Industries
Here is a list of the largest US-based hotel chains in 1969, including the number of hotels and motels (“units”). Source: Institutions Magazine 400 1969 list. 1969 largest hotel chains (XLSX)