| Excerpt Men of Mark
by William Northen
A. B. Caldwell, Pub.
Atlanta 1912
Volume 6 of 7
Pages 295 - 298 |
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Page 295
Charles Wylie McClure
The McClure Ten Cent Company is known far and near.
The great business which has grown up under this name
is due to the industry, the sagacity, and the unflagging
energy of C. W. McClure, a young man of forty-five,
whose career is an inspiring one to every ambitious young man
starting life with empty hands.
Mr. McClure is of Scotch-Irish stock. he was born in
Washington county, Illinois, july 4, 1866, son of James and
Sarah (McKinley) McClure. His father was a native of Ches-
ter, South Carolina, a farmer by occupation, who had moved
West to take advantage of the rich lands of Illinois. His
mother's people had moved from the North of Ireland to Can-
ada, in 1840, and a few years later settled in Illinois.
Young McClure was blessed with a healthy body and an
alert mind. he had the advantages of the farm rearing, which
is the best school of industry in the world. he received his
school training in the local public schools and in a course at the
Coulterville Academy, located in Randolph county, Illinois.
His father's farm was remote from the great centers and the
lad longed for the larger activities obtainable only in more
populous sections. At the age of twenty he struck out, selling
tinware and other household goods through the rural districts
of Southern Illinois, and in eight months so prospered as to
convince himself that his true vocation was that of a merchant.
After some years of varied experience, in 1896, then a young
man of thirty, after giving the careful consideration to the
matter which he does to everything, Mr McClure decided to
establish a Five and Ten Cent Store in Atlanta. At that time
there was no such establishment in the city. He opened a small
store on lower Whitehall Street; worked incessantly, and laid
the foundation securely and well for the great success which he
has achieved. In three years he was able to open up at the
present location on the corner of Whitehall and Hunter, where
Page 296
the immense four story warehouse, full of attractive goods from
basement to attic, is a very beehive of activity.
In 1900 he organized the present corporation, and on Febru-
ary 15, 1907, opemed a second establishment on Mitchell
Street, which was destroyed by fire May 7, 1908. Undismayed
by this backset he moved steadily forward and his business has
grown by leaps and bounds. The McClure Ten Cent Com-
panyis now the largest establishment of its kind in the South-
ern States and a monument to the business sagacity, presever-
ance and determination of its founder. They operate stores
in Atlanta, Macon, and Griffin, Athens, and Marietta, Georgia, and
a similar establishment in Greenwood, South Carolina, Their
stores are filled with everything needed in household affairs, are
a credit to the cities in which they are located, and every house-
keeper in their trade zones looks upon McClure's as one of the
bulwarks of the family. From early morning to late evening
their places are thronged with a multitude of people taking ad-
vantage of the good goods offered at prices within reach of the
most moderate purses, and it takes over two hundred active
employees to supply the needs of his customers. From his pri-
vate offices in Atlanta Mr. McClure keeps his hand upon the
pulse of the large commercial syndicate which he has formed
and guided to success. He keeps in close touch with his man-
agers , not only by correspondence but by verbal reports, and sees
that nothing is left undone which will contribute to success
of the business. In addition to the large retail syndicate he
has established he is now operating a wholesale house , first es-
tablished in the Commerce Hall Building in the fall of 1900
which was moved in September 1910, to the corner of Broad
and Hunter streets, where it occupies a frontage of one hun-
dred feet on Broad and ninety feet on Hunter. Here the
company carries a complete line of dry goods, notions, hardware,
tinware, woodenware, enamelware, galvanized ironware, glass-
ware, china, crockery, and toys; and here also Mr. McClure
has his private offices.
Apparently never in a hurry Mr. McClure has one of the most
restless minds possessed by any business man of Atlanta, and
this active mind is backed up by a strong body. Resulting
Page 297
from this, he has become interested in numerous other direc-
tions. He is the organizer of the McClure Realty Company
of Atlanta, through which he has acquired some of the most
valuable real estate holdings in the city, and from which he has
reaped a large profit. he is largely interested in teh Atlanta
and Carolina Railway Company; is director of the Colorado
Mining Company of Mexico, and in association with some other
gentlemen is now organizing a State bank for West Mitchell
Street, of which he will undoubtedly be one of the officers.
he is also possessor of inventive genius and has secured
patents on a safety pin and a water cooler, both of which are
strictly in accord with the main line of his business and useful
to every homekeeper. his political affliation is with the Re-
publican party on national issues, while in the State and local elec-
tions he supports the Democrat ticket. his religious in-
clination is towards Christian Science.
C. W. McClure is a public spirited man, keenly interested
in everything that will contribute to the welfare of the city and
the State; and though not a politician in the ordinary accep-
tation of that word, is a politician in the larger sense that he is
interested in the study of government and active in all meas-
ures looking toward the betterment of our governmental con-
ditions. he is a strong advocate of disversification by our
farmers and thinks the State should give large consideration
and support to industrial education.
Mr. McClure was married on May 19 1900, to Cora B. Ruth-
erford, of Baldwin, Illinois. Of thsi marriage three children
have been born, of whom two are living; Helen and Sterling
McClure.
Mr. McClure's working code is a simple one. He says :
"Preserve your physical vigor; learn to do some useful thing
well; do your work thoroughly and enthusiastically; aim high,
work hard, and never be discouraged. Have a clear conscience
honor in all things, and charity towards all men."
The position which Mr. McClure has attained in the com-
mercial world is best illustrated by the fact that when the Five
and Ten Cent merchants of the United States organized as as-
sociation at Cincinnati, in September, 1910, he had the honor
Page 298
of being elected its first president, and at the second annual
meeting at Niagara Falls the last week in August, he was
unanimously reelected president for the second term. The man
who, in fifteen years, has built up a business from very small
beginnings to such proportions as to make him the representa-
tive man of one of the great interests of the country, has in
him such qualities of leadership as to need no other eulogy.
BERNARD SUTTLER
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