Morrison & Boinest, Hubert St. at Greenwich St., New York, 2002  

The signs read "Morrison & Boinest / Coffee Roasting and Spice Grinding / For the Trade." The front of this building is 413 Greenwich Street, and Morrison & Boinest occupied it from 1902 until around 1931. The principals were William J. Morrison and Walter B. Boinest. Their business was roasting coffee and grinding spices, which they did for wholesalers only (see 1904 ad for Morrison & Boinest).

William J. Morrison (1858-ca.1915?) was born in Ireland and immigrated to the U. S. around 1870. He is recorded in the 1900 and 1910 U. S. Census reports living in New Jersey. In 1900 he lived at 78 Trask Ave., Bayonne, New Jersey. In this census his occupation was described as "soap manufacturer." In 1910 he lived at 5 Hickory Drive, Maplewood, NJ. He was 51 years old, and his occupation was "Proprietor, Coffee Roaster."

Walter B. Boinest was possibly Walter Berry Boinest, born 8 April 1868, Charleston, South Carolina. A person with these data is found on Ancestry.com's "World Tree," but I have not been able to make a definite connection. He is recorded in the four successive U. S. Census reports of 1900 through 1930. In 1900 he was 36 years old, born March, 1870, Florida. His occupation was "Shipping Clerk," and he lived at 16 Fourth Place, Brooklyn, N. Y. In the 1910 census he age is hard to read, but he was born in South Carolina, his occupation was "Coffee Roaster," and he lived on Sixth Avenue in Brooklyn. In 1920 his age appears to be only 42, but this number may be 52. He still lived on Sixth Avenue, he was born in South Carolina, and his occupation was "Merchant Coffee." In 1930 Boinest was 61 years old, his address was 529 Ninth Street Annex, Brooklyn, he was born in South Carolina, and his occupation was "Manager Coffee House."

The following is from All about Coffee, by William Harrison Ukers, New York, The Tea and Coffee Trade Journal Company, 1922, p. 498, "In the seventies Frederick Akers was proprietor of the oldest and best known trade roasting establishment in New York. The plant was known as the Atlas Mills, and was at 17 Jay Street. Mr. Akers died in 1901. The same year, William J. Morrison and Walter B. Boinest, former employees of Akers, formed a partnership to carry on the same kind of business at 413 Greenwich Street. It is still at that address under the name of Morrison & Boinest Co."

Morrison & Boinest continued to use the trade name Atlas Mills into the 1910s.

Next door (to the left in this picture) was the home of Dayton Corsa & Co. at 17 Hubert St.

Copyright © 2002 Walter Grutchfield