which continues under the name of the Wm. Schotten Coffee Co.
The firm of David G. Evans & Co. was founded in 1856 by David G. Evans
under the style of Flint, Evans & Co., changed in 1870 to David G. Evans
& Co. David G. Evans died in 1916, and the name of the company was
changed in 1917, to the David G. Evans Coffee Co., with Gwynne Evans, a
son of David G., as president of the corporation.
The George Nash Grocery Co. bought the Eagle Coffee and Spice Mills from
the estate of Mathew Hunt in 1870. About this time Michael E. Smith, who
had been with the concern for a number of years, was made a partner. The
firm was incorporated in 1887 as the Nash-Smith Tea & Coffee Co. George
Nash, Sr., died in 1910.
CINCINNATI. Among the pioneer coffee roasters in Cincinnati were: John
C. Appenzeller; Blook & Varwig; J. Brock; Cincinnati Spice Mills; Eagle
Spice Mills; Harrison & Wilson; Parker & Dixon; Kilgour & Taylor; J.M.
Krout; Succop & Lips; and H.R. Droste.
After the centennial year and previous to 1900, the following names were
added: Potter & Parlin; James Heekin & Co.; Flugel & Popp; Utter, Adams
& Ellen; J. Henry Koenig & Co.; F.W. Hinz; and the Woolson Spice Co.
D.Y. Harrison, then thirty-five years old, came from Newark, N.J., and
settled in Cincinnati in 1843, opening a coffee roasting business as
Harrison & Wilson. He used an old pull-out roaster with first a negro,
and then a horse-power tread-mill, for power. A few years later, W.H.
Harrison, a son of the founder, was admitted to the firm, the name at
that time being Parker & Harrison. D.Y. Harrison died in 1872. Fire
totally destroyed the plant in 1875. W.H. Harrison then formed a
partnership with J.W. Utter, and started in again. He sold out to his
partner in 1883 and went in business for himself as W.H. Harrison & Co.
D.Y. Harrison is said to have been the first man to roast coffee west of
Pittsburg.
The Heekin Company was established in 1870 by James Heekin and Barney
Corbett as a partnership under the name of Corbett & Heekin. In a short
time, Corbett died; and the name of the firm was then changed to James
Heekin & Co. Alexander Stuart was admitted to the partnership about
1883, and retired four years later. James J. Heekin, older son of James
Heekin, was admitted to partnership in 1892. Charles Lewis, after twenty
years' experience in the coffee trade in Louisville, Cincinnati, and New
York, was admitted to the firm in 1895. James Heekin died in 1904. Upon
his death, a corporation was formed under the name of the James Heekin
Company, with Charles Lewis as president, continuing until he retired in