This W. A. Elwell photo was taken sometime after 1875, and shows at least two significant changes to the Shute & Merchant property since it had been captured in the 1866 painting by Kilby Webb Elwell. A large factory building and a smokehouse had been constructed by this time.
The second paragraph of this November 27, 1875 newspaper item, notes that the large building to the left in the W. A. Elwell photo is underconstruction. This also helps to explain where George Merchant, Jr. intially would have had his net and seine repair business. No records are known to help identify the Stimpson who was in the seine repair business with G. Merchant at that time.
At some later point in time George Merchant, Jr. was running that business by himself, and it had been moved over to the building shown on the far right in the W. A. Elwell photo. That is the building that had once be used as the fish and fitting out loft.
Not all that took place on the Shute & Merchant wharfs had to do with fishing and the packing of fish. As this undated item notes, for at least some short period of time, the East Gloucester Cornet Band could be contacted via a clerk at the Shute & Merchant store.
The first Cornet band in Gloucester was started in 1855. These were a popular form of entertainment at all types of different events.
Many businesses used small ads in the local papers, just as Shute & Merchant did when first getting started, to pass along news or changes, as with the ad for the blacksmith on the same page.
