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the firm’s product line. Working out of an old
three-story grocery warehouse at
217 N. Water Street
since the late 1930s, the company was strapped
for space. In order to alleviate this situation,
the owners decided, in 1967, to purchase at
auction a waterfront lot from the P.P. Gregory
estate. Two years later, they would acquire the
adjacent historic Crystal Ice and Coal Company
building tract. |
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A view of
North Water Street and the P.P. Gregory
property that Jennette Fruit & Produce
Company acquired as a parking lot. |
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P.P. GREGORY
WAREHOUSE (NOW PARKING LOT) ACQUISITION
Bordered by the Crystal
Ice & Coal property on the north and Poindexter Creek on
the south, the P.P. Gregory warehouse had been a tenant
for many
Elizabeth
City
businesses. The building was purchased by P.P. Gregory,
a farmer and lumberman from Shawboro in Currituck
County, from Evelyn A. Sawyer in December of 1945. On
December 12, 1954, a fire broke out in the early morning
hours, gutting the warehouse. It was demolished a few
months later. Bertrand Jennette, representing Jennette
Fruit & Produce, purchased this property at an estate
auction in 1967.
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CRYSTAL ICE & COAL BUILDING RENOVATION
Following the purchase of the P.P. Gregory parking
lot, Jennette Fruit & Produce Company acquired the
historic Crystal Ice & Coal property in 1969. Efforts
were then under way to renovate the former ice plant
building, which had been abandoned on the waterfront for
several years and was in much disrepair. After
completion of the project the following year, they moved
into the building at
506 North Water Street. With the
additional space, the company was able to expand its
inventory in order to sell “institutional products” (as
products that were sold to foodservice accounts were
called at the time).
About the time the renovation was completed, the
company was approached by a local Kraft Foods official
about becoming a distributor of their grocery and
refrigerated products. Later, Wilkins Coffee Company, a
Washington
D.C.
roaster, realigned its territories and negotiated with
the family concern to market their line of beverage and
grocery items. Finally, Taylor & Sledd, a
Richmond-based private label brokerage house, appointed
them as a redistributors of their Tidewater canned
goods. As the retail produce business continued to
decline, the foodservice business prospered. With the
addition of these product lines, Jennette Fruit &
Produce Company could offer area restaurants a broader
selection of inventory to purchase from them.
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Produce
remained a major part
of company sales. Here, an old
product checklist allowed customers to
easily fill out their orders before the days
of data entry. |
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TRAGEDY STRIKES! THE 1975 FIRE AT JENNETTE
FRUIT & PRODUCE COMPANY
When the Crystal Ice & Coal Company building was
originally renovated by the company, an adjoining
section of the building (a collection of cold storage
rooms which had been rented out to various businesses in
the area, including the local Sealtest Milk distributor)
was not updated. By 1975, the partners agreed that the
company would expand into frozen foods, and they
concluded that the adjacent cold storage rooms would be
an ideal location for a freezer.
During this expansion project, according to the
Daily Advance
(Elizabeth City’s local newspaper), a fire
broke out on the evening of October 7th,
1975, at 2:23am in the construction area and quickly
spread to the Crystal Ice & Coal Company building,
causing considerable damage and loss of inventory. The
company was able to continue to operate under the most
severe circumstances until repairs were made, thanks to
Mac’s Produce in Raleigh, the Elizabeth City News
Company, G.E. Small & Sons of Weeksville, and other area
businesses. After the cleanup, the company moved forward
with the freezer expansion.
A year and two months after the fire, on December 31,
1976, Bill McCain sold his 50% share of the company to
his partner, Bertrand and his sons, Cully and Carter.
Carter had been working in the company for a number of
years as a salesman, calling on accounts in
Dare
County. Carter, named after the older
brother and former partner of his father, took over
Bertrand’s
Dare
County
customers so his father could assume the purchasing
responsibilities of the firm. His brother, Cully, was
assigned the responsibility of managing Bill McCain’s
accounts. The new owners introduced some of the most
far-reaching changes in the history of the business. A
few months following the sale, the company marketed
frozen foods to its accounts. The new owners then
contacted the Taylor & Sledd Company in
Richmond,
VA, about
becoming a member of their foodservice buying group,
Pocahontas Foods. Jennette Fruit & Produce Company had
been purchasing through their retail division since
1968. After being evaluated by the Pocahontas officials,
the company was accepted in its foodservice organization
as a distributor of its Tidewater Products. A few years
later, in 1978, the company was appointed as a
Pocahontas USA distributor, making Jennette Brothers,
Inc. one of the oldest members of this organization, now
known as Progressive Group Alliance. During this time,
the company was upgrading its delivery fleet by
replacing the wooden bodies with refrigerated/frozen
units.
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This picture shows the freezer
expansion area and origin of the fire.
When this photograph was taken, the
debris had been cleaned and the floor
was already poured. |
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Around 1960, brothers Cully and
Carter pose for a photo on Elizabeth
City's first steam pumper, "Inez" beside
the old fire station on Elizabeth
Street. It is now located in the Museum
of the Albermarle. |
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By 1978, the company began its first
plant expansion since the purchase from
the McCain family. Here, a worker is
finishing a floor for a new product
cooler. Note the Tidewater Canned Foods
sign.
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| Flames
gutted the Pell Paper Box Co. located
near the Jennette Fruit and Produce
Company and the Globe Fish Company
buildings. |
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1977 FIRE THREATENS JENNETTE FRUIT &
PRODUCE COMPANY
On the evening of January 17, 1977, the Pell Paper
Box Company main warehouse and offices (located on
Burgess and Water Streets near Jennette Fruit & Produce)
caught fire. The Daily Advance
reported that firemen raced to the scene to put out the
fire in 15° F temperatures, icing and re-icing the
adjacent buildings to save both Jennette Fruit & Produce
Company and their next door neighbor, the Globe Fish
Company. The buildings were saved, but the Pell Paper
Box Company buildings were completely destroyed and were
later demolished. Because the entrance of the company
was blocked by ice and debris, the Globe Fish Company
(which was sandwiched between the Pell buildings and
Jennette Fruit & Produce Company) remained closed for
several days after the fire.
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1978 ACQUISITION OF THE GLOBE FISH COMPANY
PROPERTY
One year following the 1977 Pell fire, Royden and
Buck Daniels, owners of the Globe Fish Company, decided
to retire and close their family business.
The
building, located north of Jennette Fruit & Produce
Company, was offered for sale by Royden and his wife,
Camilla, who was the granddaughter of W.J. Woodley, Sr.
(who established the W.J. Woodley Grocery Company). This
structure, along with the Crystal Ice & Coal Company
facility and the Woodley Grocery Company, was an anchor
in a historic mercantile district that had witnessed
extensive commercial activity in the 19th and
early 20th
centuries. Soon after acquiring the Globe Fish
Company property, Jennette Fruit & Produce Company began
renovations and within a few months had expanded its
operations to include this facility.
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1993 W.J. WOODLEY GROCERY COMPANY PROPERTY
ACQUISITION
The W.J. Woodley warehouses, located on Burgess and
Water Street,
were placed on the real estate market by the owners of
the Pell Paper Box Company in 1993. An offer to purchase
this property, along with three other warehouses located
across the street, was accepted and the deal was closed
the same year. W.J. Woodley Grocery Company was a major
regional grocery wholesaler from the 1890s to the 1950s.
Because the majority of the company’s products were
transported by boat,
East Burgess Street
(then paved with cobblestones that are still visible)
was known as “Woodley’s Wharf.” It was at this location
that the city’s most serious maritime tragedy, the
explosion of the Annie, occurred. Three of the original
Woodley buildings were destroyed in the 1977 fire shown
earlier in the website.
Following the purchase of the Woodley property,
Jennette Fruit & Produce further expanded its facility
by constructing an additional 20,000 square feet of
cooler and freezer space. The company also left a
traditional part of its business behind when it
dismantled its aging banana ripening rooms. Since the
1930s, the company had specialized in selling the fruit,
but lack of demand from foodservice accounts resulted in
a change of direction.
In 1996, Jennette Fruit & Produce Company
reincorporated using its original name, JENNETTE
BROTHERS, for the purpose of reflecting on the company’s
historic past as well as acknowledging the current
ownership structure. In 2003, Bertrand passed away,
leaving his two sons, Cully and Carter, as the remaining
owners of the business.
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| The
photograph shows the main Woodley warehouse at
the foot of East Burgess Street.
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Site work begins for the construction of the
third freezer addition on the Crystal Ice &
Coal and Woodley Grocery /
Pell Paper tracts. |
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A few years before his death, Bertrand Jennette, a community
activist, had lived to see the company’s transformation from a
wholesaler of fruits and produce at
217 South Water Street
(where he worked as a teenager and later the owner) to a broad
line foodservice distributor. Of all of his company’s
accomplishments, the one he was proudest of was the restoration
of the property. By the end of the 1990s, Jennette Brothers
began a beautification project with the reconstruction of the
old docks behind the Crystal Ice & Coal, Globe Fish and Woodley
buildings. The old P.P. Gregory parking lot was paved and
extensive landscaping to the entire complex was completed. All
of the buildings’ exteriors were refurbished and then painted.
The following photographs show a historical overview of the
warehouse complex area:
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This photo shows Poindexter Creek, which is
located beside the Jennette Brothers parking
lot. Notice the Water Street Bridge that
crosses the creek. On the right you can see the
Coastal Freight Company Building. |
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This southeast view of North poindexter
Street shows Burgess Street and the North
Poindexter and North Water Street warehouses. |
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Another view of North Water Street. |
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A photo of the
Jennette Brothers Meat Processing Room
at 509 North Water Street. The exterior
was restored to conform to the
historical period of construction. |
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Twenty-seven years after moving to the new location
at
506 North Water Street
, the company had become a broadline foodservice
specialist; distributing canned, frozen, produce,
beverage, refrigerated products, janitorial and
equipment to area accounts. The firm had transitioned
from a supplier of fruits and produce for “Mom and Pop”
groceries to one whose business model was to service
independent restaurant operations.
A decision was made in 2003 to expand into meat
processing and in the following year, the company opened
a state-of-the-art USDA Meat Cutting Facility in a
renovated cotton warehouse that was purchased in the
Pell transaction. Jennette Brothers markets its
Processing Room as one of its “Eight Reasons To Consider
Doing Business With Us.”
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CONCLUSION
Reflecting on the first 100 years of the company’s
existence (1907-2007), the firm was founded as a farm
implement supply company that sold seed and buggies.
From 1932 to the early 1970s, Jennette Fruit & Seed and
later Jennette Fruit & Produce Company serviced local
groceries with produce delivered in orange wooden-bodied
trucks with green canvas covers. Today, Jennette
Brothers distributes foodservice products in tractor
trailers to our independent restaurant customers. We
take seriously the responsibility of managing the
product needs of our accounts. Every customer’s menu is
unique, so our mission is to treat each operator’s needs
differently, which is another reason to consider doing
business with us.
Because of Jennette Brothers’ commitment to
distribute products mistake-free, we have created a
service model called “Personal Touch,” which is another
one of the eight reasons to do business with our
company. Our focus to manufacture and distribute only
products that bring the greatest value to our customers
is another reason offered to prospects to buy from us.
Jennette Brothers’ Allied Program brings our customers
and our company together in a united effort to see
independent accounts prosper under the most challenging
circumstances. This program is another reason to do
business with us.
The company’s history of innovation, perseverance,
and commitment provides our management team, our
associates and the owners with the determination and
courage to offer our independent restaurants an option
and a reason for doing business with our firm.
Prospective customers should ask a representative of our
organization for more information on the eight “Reasons
To Consider Doing Business With Us.”
(Our company would like to acknowledge
the following in the assistance of this history
compilation: Cecil Richardson, Fred Fearing, Museum of
the Albemarle, the Joyner Library at East Carolina
University, and my father, who always seemed to have a
camera with him to record events.)
-Cully Jennette
President Jennette Brothers, Inc.
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