(1889)
A. T. Williams Coal Houses.
Many shoreline buildings were associated with the enormous enterprise of Union Wharf, but two of the largest were these one-story coal houses, operated by Andrew T. Williams (1836-1920). The plate from the 1889 Sanborn map gives a sense of how large they were. Williams did a thriving business. He was described in an 1890 article in the United States Commercial Recorder as a “dealer in ship chandlery [ship’s supplies], cordage [cords, ropes, rigging], groceries, flour, coal, wood, paints, oils, &c.” “His store is recognized as the headquarters for all these goods, and the stock from which to select comprises everything likely to be required by vessels on their voyages.”
¶ Last updated on 26 August 2018. ¶ Sanborn Fire Insurance Map From Provincetown, Barnstable County, Massachusetts (1889). Library of Congress Geography and Map Division. Digital ID g3764pm.g038261889.
Advertisement in The First Resident Directory of Provincetown, Mass. (1886). Courtesy of the Provincetown History Preservation Project, Page 171.
For further reading online
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“A. T. Williams,” United States Commercial Recorder, 6 December 1890 (reprinted in The Provincetown Advocate, 2 February 1956). Scrapbooks of Althea Boxell, Book 9, Page 13. Dowd Collection, Provincetown History Preservation Project, Page 2238.
Grave site in Provincetown
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Williams, Andrew. Find a Grave Memorial 51360972.