NORFOLK STORAGE COMPANY


A 1903 postcard.



A company token, payment (40 cents) for one day's work.


I don't have much information on the Norfolk Storage Company yet. However, I did find a mention of it (see below) in Norfolk, the Marine Metropolis of Virginia, and the Sound and River Cities of North Carolina, which was a narrative by George I. Nowitzky written in 1888. I can't find the Taylor Street he mentions, but Water Street is still around. This book contains a very good description of Norfolk (from the viewpoint of someone walking the streets and documenting what he sees) in the 1880s, and I'd recommend it to people looking for various historical landmarks and locations.

"After retracing my steps to Water street, I continued down that miscellaneous avenue, and after crossing Market Square I found a complete change. The wholesale feature appeared to have dropped out of the street and been replaced by small stores, which in turn give way to manufacturing establishments on one side and on the other the large storage warehouses, wharves and sheds of the great steam-ship lines that receive and discharge passengers and freight at this port. When I reached Taylor street two large warehouses claimed my attention on account of their solid appearance and size; they are of the modern pattern, with large arched doorways, and look the very embodiment of solidity. One is occupied by the Merchants’ and Farmers’ Pea-nut Company, and the other, which covers an entire city square, and is the largest brick building in tide-water Virginia, is occupied by the Norfolk Storage Warehouse, the largest pea-nut concern in the world."