Hersey, Staples and Co. (Stillwater, Minn.)

Hersey, Staples and Co. was organized in 1854 in Stillwater, the leading lumber town in the Minnesota Territory at that time. It was headed by Samuel Freeman Hersey, a native of Maine who already had years of experience in the lumber industry when he started Hersey, Staples and Co. Hersey had two partners in the company; Isaac Staples, also from Maine, and Dudley C. Hall, from Medford, Massachusetts. In addition, dry goods importers John Brooks Fenno and James A. Whitney of Boston held a one-fourth interest together under the firm name Whitney, Fenno and Company. The company changed its name and management many times from when it was first organized to when it finally ceased operating in the late 1800s.

For greater information, see Lucile Kane, "Hersey, Staples and Company, 1854-1860: Eastern Managers and Capital in Frontier Business," Bulletin of the Business Historical Society 25 (December 1952): 199-213.

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