Atchison is also the home of two of the largest wholesale hardware stores on the Missouri river, both of which began operations here at approximately the same time. The operations of the Blish, Mize & Silliman Hardware Company are the largest of the two companies. This company travels thirty men and has an office and store force of eighty- eight men and women. It has an annual payroll of $115,000.00. It was founded by D. P. Blish, E. A. Mize and J. B. Silliman, who were all related by marriage. The company began in a small way as a successor to J. E. Wagner & Company, and has branched out in its business until it covers several States and territories. It occupies a magnificent re- inforced concrete fire-proof structure at the corner of Fifth and Utah avenue, and its business has been increasing from year to year. The A. J. Harwi Hardware Company is owned and controlled largely by F. E. Harwi, the son of its founder, and a full account of its operations appears in a sketch of the life and career of A. J. Harwi in this history. Atchison is particularly proud of the fact that it is one of the best jobbing centers in this part of the country, and in this connection the wholesale grocery business is well represented in the two splendid firms of the Dolan Mercantile Company and the Symns Grocery Company. The Dolan Mercantile Company was established by W. F. Dolan, one of the pioneers of Atchison, who started in a small way as a retail grocer merchant, and died leaving a splendidly established wholesale grocery business, which is now conducted by M. J. Horan and Leo Nusbaum. This house, under the able management of these two young men is rapidly making for itself a big reputation among wholesale dealers and grocers. In addition to jobbing regular lines of merchandise this company has recently installed its own plant for the manufacture of fluid extracts, baking powder and pancake flour, and also roasts its own coffees. It has a large traveling force, visiting the States of Nebraska, Missouri, Kansas and Oklahoma, and the Dolan brands are well known throughout this whole territory. The Symns Grocery Company was established by A. B. Symns, who came to Kansas from West Virginia, with his three brothers, in 1858, where he settled in the town of Doniphan and engaged in mercantile pursuits, until he removed to Atchison in 1872. He opened a wholesale and retail grocery here in that year, and continued in business without a partner until March, 1878, when the firm became Symns & Turner, under which name it was run until 1880, when it was changed to A. B. Symns & Company. It was subsequently incorporated into the Symns Grocery Company, and at the death of A. B. Symns, the business was run by J. W. Allen, J. E. Moore, C. A. Lockwood and Tom Gray. It operates in about the same territory that the Dolan Mercantile Company operates in, and its present enterprising management is keeping up the splendid reputation established by its founder.