This is just the beginning! Our collection holds over 300 years of history, including rare newspapers, obituaries, marriage records, birth records, and so much more—most of which you won’t find anywhere else!
Founding of A and P Decades of American Retail History
The 1859 start of A&P by George Hartford began as a low cost tea seller at 31 Vesey Street New York, expanding into branch stores and mail order. By 1880 A&P operated 95 stores from Boston to Milwaukee and added coffee and spices, while innovations in manufacturing and testing followed. The company grew through wagons and traveling stores, then in 1912 John Hart began the economy store model cutting services to lower prices, driving rapid expansion into the 1920s with new formats.
MENTIONED IN THIS ARTICLE
A&p*s
John Brown
Harper's Ferry
Edwin Drake
Titusville
Pennsylvania
Nevada
New York
Fifth Avenue Hotel
A&p
Aoman
George H. Hartford
Augusta
Maine
St. Louis
New York City
Vessey Street
P. T. Barnum
Hartford
Veseley Street
Harper's Weekly
Wells Fargo
Boston
Philadelphia
Chicago
Midwest
A&p Foods
Milwaukee
George L. Hartford
Come Pany
George
Mr. George
John
Reda
Gold A&p
D Black Smith
Marconi
Texas
Wright
Jersey City