On this episode of #IDKMYDE, we're delving into a piece of history you might not be familiar with. Did you know that E.E. Ward Moving and Storage is recognized as the oldest continuously operating Black-owned business in the United States? Tune in as we uncover more hidden gems in history and celebrate the resilience of Black entrepreneurship.
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On today's episode off I didn't know. Maybe you didn't either. I would like to echo the sentiments support black business. I've been seeing this a lot this February, and I'm sure i'll be seeing it again in June for jun Team. But do you know what the first black owned business was? Because I didn't.
I didn't know. Maybe you didn't. I didn't know. I didn't know. Maybe you didn't. I didn't know. I didn't know. Maybe you didn't. I didn't know. I didn't know. I didn't know. I didn't know.
Ee Ward Moving in Storage is recognized by the US Department of Commerce as the oldest continuously operating black owned.
Business in the United States.
It was founded in eighteen eighty one by William Ward and John T.
Ward to In the eighteen thirties, John T.
Ward moved to Columbus, and while he was there he serviced one of the travel points, or the mile marker points of the underground railroad. It was stuff as many black focus he could in his wagon, and very conspicuously he would travel for a half day or maybe even a full day, just getting them black folks as close to up north as they could so they could get the freedom see John T.
Ward.
He had the horses and the wagons and William Ward.
He was a former foreman and.
A supervisor of the Union Transferring Storage Company of Columbus.
So after the Civil War, John T.
Ward he got government contracts so he could haul ammunition and supplies and equipment for the army.
So what he do He finessed in.
Eighteen eighty one around that time, and he was using the freight wagons to carry the supplies for the war. He simultaneously was starting ee Ward Moving in Storage in Columbus. Seeing eighteen eighty one it was Ward Transfer Line. Then it was later called Ward Storage and Transfer Company, but by eighteen ninety nine it became ee Ward Moving and Storage Company. That was after John T. Ward's grandson, Edgar Earl took over the business. Edgar Earle cacked, almighty, Yeah, you gotta roll with ee Ward on that one. But now e Ward is a nationally recognized leader and transportation and relocation. It was operated by the Ward family from eighteen eighty one to two thousand and one, but now it's owned by Brian and Dominique Brooks. But they did more than expand the business. When the Brooks family took over. E Ward had five employees. Now they got between seventy five and one hundred. You've seen them big trucks with the blue backgrounds and the white letters to say North American.
That's e Ward. Now they got two locations too.
They still got their headquarters in Columbus, Ohio, and they also got a branch in where I stayed, Charlotte, North Carolina.
And I didn't know. Maybe you didn't either. No,