The Wilcox Company

Pictured below is the R.M. and C.B. Wilcox Company in the first part of the twentieth century.

The Wilcox Company was located in the 100 block of the west side of Columbus Avenue in Sandusky from 1886 until it closed in December of 1929. The store was a dry goods and department store, and it was known for selling carpets. (It was incorporated in 1902.) A newspaper ad in 1911 indicates that the Wilcox Company also cleaned carpets and rugs. They utilized a “sanitary system” of cleaning carpets.

Here is an advertisement from the 1924 Fram:

The December 28, 1929 issue of the Sandusky Register reported that the Wilcox store had been continuously operated by one family for more than eighty one years, and was considered Sandusky’s oldest mercantile establishment. In the first days of operation, the store was called Hubbard and Wilcox. Later it became March and Wilcox. The third name of the business was E. H. and R. M. Wilcox. (Edward Harmon and Rollin M. Wilcox were brothers.) After the death of Edward H. Wilcox in 1886 his son C. B. Wilcox entered the firm, and the firm became known as the R. M. & C. B. Wilcox Company. After the death of R. M. Wilcox, his son Merritt S. Wilcox began working for the company. The Register article stated that, “The Wilcox store was always noted throughout the Sandusky retail section as an establishment handling quality goods.” The store closed its doors permanently at 9 p.m. on Saturday, December 28, 1929.

(The Wilcox Store near the end of its existence.)