1914 Foster photograph of C. W. Antrim & Sons, “Better Acquaintance Week.” Hugh Antrim is the gentleman in the white suit standing on the left streetcar third from the left of the Morara Coffee sign. Source, John Antrim.

Brief history of 911 Green Alley, the livery stable now proposed to be moved:

The livery stable at 911 Green Alley was built in 1908 by the brothers Charles B. Antrim (b.1856, d. 1930), Joseph Linwood Antrim (b. 1858, d. 1912) and Hugh Antrim (b. 1869, d. 1951), the proprietors of C. W. Antrim & Sons, wholesale grocers. This firm was founded in 1877 as Antrim and Lafferty in Lexington by Charles W. Antrim (b. 1826, d. 1889), and moved to Richmond where its main office was at 1417 E. Cary Street (the Antrim name is still on the side of this building). C. W. Antrim & Sons was famous worldwide for the “Morara” and “Old Mansion” brand coffee and spices. At one time Richmond was the nation’s principal distribution center for green coffee beans, imported from Latin America. C. W. Antrim & Sons played an important role in this aspect of the city’s industrial past as one of the South’s largest coffee roasting concerns.

Three generations of the Antrim family owned and operated the business. It is likely that C. W. Antrim & Sons employed residents of the working-class Oregon Hill neighborhood in staffing the stable and coffee roasting enterprises.

Because the stable was built the year after the City Market was converted for use as the City Auditorium, it is likely that the stable also served the patrons of the City Auditorium. The Antrim family owned 911 Green Alley until 1943. In 1924 the property was occupied by one of the city’s first GMC truck dealerships, thus making an interesting transition from the horse-and-buggy days to the automobile era.