Daly & Armstrong Dry Goods Store on Broad St. in Augusta, Georgia
June 27, 2015
Daly & Armstrong, a dry goods store on Broad St. in Augusta from 1878-1891, was owned by James Daly & John F. Armstrong. John F. Armstrong is not pictured in this photo taken in the 1880s.
Daly & Armstrong, a whole sale and retail dry goods store, opened on Broad Street in downtown Augusta, Georgia on October 1st, 1878.
Owned by James Daly and John F. Armstrong, the store sold a wide range of goods, including clothing and household items. Advertisements for the grand opening in the Augusta Chronicle boasted “Style, Variety of Assortment and Cheapness” and announced that “The public, particularly the Ladies, are cordially invited to call and examine our stock”.
Both Daly and Armstrong had previously been business partners at Jas. A. Gray & Co., a well-known local dry goods firm. Prior to that, Armstrong had co-owned a grocery and liquor store on Broad St. with James McAndrew, his wife’s brother.
Daly & Armstrong on Broad St.
Daly & Armstrong was originally located at 224 Broad St. in the Central Hotel. In 1880, the 200 block of Broad St. became the 700 block, although it’s not certain if 224 became 724 under the new street numbering system.
By 1882, the store had moved to 744 Broad St. in the Masonic Hall Building, where it remained for the next five years.
Daly & Armstrong was located at 744 Broad St. (on right side of image) in the Masonic Temple, It is delineated above on Sheet 6 of the 1884 Augusta Sanborn Fire Insurance Map, “D.G.” denotes that the business was a dry goods store. Image courtesy of the Digital Library of Georgia.
In February of 1887, a fire started in the Masonic Hall Theater and spread to a number of downtown businesses. Daly & Armstrong lost $9,400 worth of stock, but the business was covered by insurance and soon reopened at 822 Broad St.
Sheet 7 of the 1890 Augusta, Georgia Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps depicting 822 Broad St. (at top of image), the location of Daly & Armstrong Dry Goods after the 1887 downtown fire, “D.Gds.” denotes that the business was a dry goods store. Image courtesy of the Digital Library of Georgia.
The End of the Daly & Armstrong Business Partnership
Throughout the 1880s, Armstrong was an active member of the Executive Committee of the Irish National League of America and traveled extensively in the United States and Ireland on behalf of the organization.
By the spring of 1890, his health had begun to fail and, in February of 1891, the Atlanta Constitution disclosed that he and M.E. MacAulay, a silent partner in Daly & Armstrong, had sold their shares of the store to Daly.
A few weeks later, Armstrong left for Ireland to rest and recover from his illness but his health continued to deteriorate. When he returned to Augusta in September of 1893, he was committed to the Georgia Lunatic Asylum in Milledgeville, where he died on November 9th, 1893.
Photographic Image of Daly & Armstrong
Most of the images I’ve shared of my great-great grandparents, John F. and Sarah McAndrew Armstrong, came from the photo collection of my great aunt, Frances Armstrong Casey (1893-1988).
In the 1980s, my parents had prints made of some of Aunt Frankie’s photos. I found the image of Daly & Armstrong, the dry-goods store JF co-owned in Augusta, at their house several years ago.
Unlike the other pictures, though, the Daly & Armstrong image was a photocopy, not a photographic print. When I asked my mother about it a few days ago, she said someone–probably an Armstrong relative–had given Aunt Frankie the photocopy and she had passed it on to her. It looks like it may have been used in a newspaper advertisement for the store.
References
“A Big Fire in Augusta: The Opera House and Other Buildings Burned–Loss $200,000.” The New York Times, 13 February 1887. Accessed at Query.nytimes.com on 28 March 2015. Article about a fire on 12 February 1887 on Broad Street in Augusta, Georgia. Daily (sic) and Armstrong, the store JF co-owned, is listed as having lost $9,400 worth of stock. The store’s name was actually Daly and Armstrong.
“Augusta, Georgia address changes on Broad St. in 1880”. Email sent to Tulie Wheeler Taylor on 16 July 2015 from Erick Montgomery, Executive Director of Historic Augusta, Inc. The 200 block of Broad St. was renumbered and became the 700 block in 1880. It is not known where Daly & Armstrong’s street number at 224 Broad St. converted to 724 Broad, but the store would have been located in the middle of block in the Central Hotel.
“Augusta, Georgia City Directories: 1872, 1880, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1886, 1888, and 1889.” 1880-1889 Augusta city directory listings for Daly & Armstrong sent to Tulie Wheeler Taylor via email on 7th July, 2015 by Tina Rae Floyd. Print copies located at the Georgia Heritage Room at the Augusta-Richmond County Library, 823 Telfair Street Augusta, GA 30901 (706) 821-2600 Fax: (706) 724-6762. Citations for 1872, 1882, 1883, 1886, and 1889 were accessed in July 2015 at ancestry.com. Citations for 1880, 1884, and 1888 are listed below.
–1880 – Sholes’ City Directory of the City of Augusta. Published by A. E. Sholes. Printed in the Job Office of the Chronicle and Constitutionalist, Augusta, Georgia.
–1884 – Sholes’ City Directory of the City of Augusta. Published by A. E. Sholes. Printed at the Chronicle Book Rooms, Augusta Georgia.
–1888 – Augusta City Directory. Published by R. L. Polk & Co. Printed at the Chronicle Job Rooms, Augusta, Georgia.
“Augusta, Georgia Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, 1884 & 1890.” Dlg.galileo.usg.edu. From Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps for Georgia Towns and Cities, 1884-1922 Collection at the Digital Library of Georgia. Accessed at http://dlg.galileo.usg.edu/sanborn/CityCounty/Augusta.html in June 2015.
“Long Lease: An Elegant Store To Be Fitted Up for Daly & Armstrong,” Augusta Chronicle (Augusta, GA), 17 June 1887, online archives, Genealogybank.com (https://www.genealogybank.com : accessed 13 March 2014), citing original p. 7.
“New Advertisements: New Dry Goods Store, 224 Broad St., Daly & Armstrong.” Augusta Chronicle, 29 September 1878. Accessed at Genealogybank.com on 13 March 2014.