A couple of days ago a friend gave me an old coffee jar. Now I do love a good cup of coffee, but I enjoy a good story even more and this jar tells a fascinating one.
It is the story of what was once one of the most popular brands of coffee in our area, the Oliver Finnie Co. of Memphis, and an 1860 steamboat named the Silver Moon. The jar is for one pound of Silver Moon brand coffee made by the Oliver Finnie Co. between 1934 and 1946.
Silver Moon Coffee began appearing in newspaper ads across the South in 1899. By the middle of the first decade of the 1900s it was found across north Mississippi. Interestingly, though advertised in Macon, Starkville, Okolona and Aberdeen newspapers, there were no newspaper ads in Columbus for it. However, the J.L. Walker Co. in Columbus was distributing Oliver Finnie Co. products, including Court Square Coffee. That was another brand name used for coffee made by Oliver Finnie Co.
The story behind the name of Silver Moon Coffee begins with a steamboat. The coffee was named after the steamboat Silver Moon, which had been constructed on the Ohio River at Cincinnati in 1859 for the Cincinnati and Memphis Packet company. She was a good boat but not large by Mississippi River standards, being 184 feet long and 39 feet wide. Steamboats on the Tombigbee running between Columbus and Mobile at that time were as long as 200 feet. When the Civil War erupted, the Silver Moon was the last steamboat to leave Memphis to return north. It was said that when she reached her home port of Cincinnati “Home Sweet Home” was being played on her calliope. She was taken out of service and dismantled in 1872.
The story of the Oliver Finnie Co. is also connected to the Steamboat Silver Moon. In several 1922 newspaper ads for Silver Moon Coffee the story behind its name was told. “It was in May 1860, that the late J.P. Finnie, one of the founders of the Oliver Finnie Company, reached Memphis aboard the river steamer Silver Moon’ of which an old college classmate of Mr. Finnie was captain. Mr Finnie was on a ‘prospecting’ trip desiring to establish himself in the grocery business in a location that seemed to offer good opportunity for an ambitious young man.”
Finnie believed that the availability of river transportation was the key to a successful business. The captain of the Silver Moon, also talking of the importance of river commerce, suggested the growing city of Memphis would be just the place for him. While on board the steamer Finnie decided that Memphis would indeed be the place to locate his business. The captain then suggested that Finnie name his business products Silver Moon in honor of the boat that brought him to Memphis. Finnie agreed and began naming his products “Silver Moon.”
Finnie’s first business in Memphis was a retail grocery. Then in 1868 he and J.N. Oliver joined together and opened a wholesale business, Oliver Finnie Co., which was located on Front Street. The business grew rapidly and became a major producer of baking products, candy and coffee. By the 1920s they were producing six different brands of coffee but Silver Moon, which was being produced by 1899, was their most promoted one. Several of their other products also bore the name Silver Moon. They included baking powder, pancake flour and buckwheat flour. The company closed in 1962.
Silver Moon Coffee jars are now attractive collectors items but few people realize the fascinating story they tell.
Rufus Ward is a Columbus native a local historian. E-mail your questions about local history to Rufus at [email protected].
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