Tesla As He Was Listed in Trow's Corporation Directories, 1889-1921

Trow Publishing put out three different annual directories describing business and home addresses in New York. These were the Business Directory, the City Directory and the Copartnership and Corporation Directories.

This post will focus on Tesla's appearance in the Copartnership and Coorporation Directory*.

A listing from the 1912 Directory.

1889. Volume XXXVII, March 1889. (Google Books)
Tesla Electric Co. (Alfred S. Brown, Pres., Charles F. Peck, Sec. Capital $300,000 Directors: Alfred S. Brown, Charles F. Peck, Nickola Tesla, Elverton R. Chapman, George F. Casilear) 16 Broad. (p. 262) (Nickola - I strove to include the misspellings in the original documents and did so without adding "sic" in most instances.) In later years in the business directories, Tesla will have an office at 15 Broad.

1890. Volume XXXVIII, March 1890 (Google Books)
No direct Tesla reference. However, the directory does include the following two businesses at the address of Tesla's 1889 laboratory.

Freeman Dynamo Electric Motor Co. (N. Denison Morgan, Pres.; Robert Webb Morgan, Treas.. Capital, $250,000. Trustees: N. Denison Morgan, Louis Bauer, Julian W. Merrill, James H. Morgan, Warren P. Freeman, Robert Webb Morgan, Samuel C. Robinson) 89 Liberty. (p. 104)

Freeman Electric Mfg Co. (Warren P. Freeman, Pres.: Robert Webb Morgan, Sec. Capital, $50,000. Trustees: Warren P. Freeman, J. W. Robertson, William H. Cotterell, Robert Webb Morgan, S. Blovelt) 89 Liberty. (p. 104)

There are business and city directories to fill the gaps of the next ten years, but the next Corporation Directory I encountered was from 1900. I will add this entry from The Trow Business Directory of New York City 1897: Electricians Tesla Nikola, Co. 15 Broad (p. 390)

1900. Volume XLVIII, March 1900 (Columbia University Libraries Digital Collections)
Tesla Nikola, Co. (N. Y.) (further inf. unattainable)  46 E.  Houston (p. 426)

1901. Volume XLVIX, (sic) March 1901. (HathiTrust)
Tesla Nikola, Co. (refused) 46 E. Houston. (p. 480)

1902. Fiftieth Year, March 1902 (HathiTrust)

The listing from the 1902 Directory.

Tesla Nikola, Co. (N. Y.) (Nikola Tesla. Pres.; William B. Rankine. Sec. Capital, $500,000; further inf. unattainable) 46 E. Houston (p. 512)

Note: Tesla is still listed at 46 E. Houston St. as of 1902.

1906. Fifty-Fourth Year, March 1906 (HathiTrust)
Tesla Machine Co. (N.Y.) (Capital $300,000 Directors: Nikola Tesla, Langdon Greenwood. William Andres; further inf. unattainable) 17 Battery pl.. R. 1403 (p. 714)

Note: 17 Battery Place is the Whitehall Building. Twenty story structure built in 1904. Still standing.

1908. Fifty-Sixth Year, March 1908. (HathiTrust)
Tesla Machine Co. (inf. unattainable) 17 Battery pl. R. 1410 (p. 805)

1909. Fifty-Seventh Year, March 1909 (HathiTrust)
Tesla Electro-Therapeutic Co. (N. Y.) (Capital $400,000. Directors: Archibald M. Langford, Morton G. Bogue, Ward W. Pickard; further inf. unattainable) 111 B'way R. 1401. (p. 768)

Note: 111 Broadway is Trinity Center, built 1907 and is still standing.

1911. Fifty-Ninth Year. March 1911 (HathiTrust)

Tesla Electro-Therapeutic Co. (N. Y.) (Capital. $400.000. Directors: Archibald M. Langford, Morton G. Bogue. Ward W. Pickard; further inf. unattainable) 111 B'way R. 901 (p. 880)

Tesla International Propulsion Co. of N. Y. (N. Y.) (Capital, $1,000.000. Directors: Henry C. Quimby. John F. Valieant, James F. Eagan, further inf. unattainable) 202 Metropolitan tower (p. 880)

Note: The Metropolitan Life Tower, completed in 1909, was briefly the tallest building in the world. It is still standing.

Tesla Ozone Co. (N. Y.) (W. Kelley, Pres.; C. M. McKeever, Sec. Capital, $400,000. Directors: W. Kelley, W. H. Macmurdo, C. M. McKeever) 111 B'way R. 901 (p. 880)

Tesla Propulsion Co. of N. Y. (N. Y.) (Capital. $1,000.000. Directors: Nicola Tesla, Joseph Headley, Walter H. Knight; further inf. unattainable) 111 B'way Rm. 901. (p. 880)

1912. Sixtieth Year, March 1912. (HathiTrust)

Tesla Electro-Therapeutic Co. (inoperative) 111 B'way R. 901 (p. 844)
Tesla Ozone Co. (inoperative) 111 B'way R. 901 (p. 844)
Tesla Propulsion Co. of N. Y. (N. Y.) (inf. unattainable) 111 B'way Rm. 901. (p. 844)

1914. Volume 62. Now: R.L. Polk & Co. Trow New York Copartnership and Corporation Directory (Google Books)

Nothing under the name of Tesla.

1915. Volume 63. Now: R.L. Polk & Co. Trow New York Copartnership and Corporation Directory (Google Books)

Nothing under the name of Tesla.

1918-1919 Volume 66 for the year commencing January 1919. (Google Books)

Tesla Co, Inc (N Y) Nikola Tesla Pres. Geo Scherff Sec. Capital, $250,000. Directors: Nikola Tesla, Geo Scherff, R Diaz Bultrago, 8 W 40th R 2006. (p. 1141)

Tesla Nikola Co, Inc (N Y) Nikola Tesla Pres. Geo Scherff Sec. (further inf. unattainable, 8 W 40th R 2006. (p. 1141)

Note: This is the first mention of 8 W. 40th address. The nearby corner has been memorialized with his name.

1921 (Google Books)

Cinemachinery Mfg Corp Sol Kappler Pres. Nicola H Tesla Treas; further inf unattainable. 723 7th av (p. 1701)

Tesla Co, Inc (N Y) Nikola Tesla Pres. Geo Scherff Sec. Cap, $250,000. Dir: Nikola Tesla, Geo Scherff, R Diaz Bultrago, 8 W 40th R 2006. (p. 1776)

Tesla Institute (RTN) (name discontinued) 248 W. 70?th. (p. 1776)

Tesla Co, Inc (N Y) Nikola Tesla Pres. Geo Scherff Sec. further inf unattainable. 8 W 40th R. 2006 (p. 1776)

Image from TeslaUniverse.

*I was able to locate fifteen of these online and available for searching. These were at HathiTrust, Google Books, Columbia University Digital Online, and Archive.org.

The titles of these directories varied slightly over the years and in the mid-1910s, their publication was taken over by R.L. Polk. A basic format of the early titles were: The Trow City Directory Co.'s, Formerly Wilson's, Copartnership and Corporation Directory of New York City. Volume #, Month, Year. Trow Directory, Printing & Bookbinding Company.

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Nikola Tesla, Arthur Conan Doyle and Dr. Henry H. Holmes are all characters in my thriller, A Predator's Game.
 
A Predator's Game is available in soft-cover and ebook editions through Amazon and other online retailers.

A Predator's Game, now available, Rook's Page Publishing.

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Back page blurb.

Manhattan, 1896.

When the author Arthur Conan Doyle meets Nikola Tesla he finds a tall, thin genius with a photographic memory and a keen eye, and recognizes in the eccentric inventor the embodiment of his creation, Sherlock. Together, they team up to take on an "evil Holmes." Multi-murderer Dr. Henry H. Holmes has escaped execution and is unleashing a reign of terror upon the metropolis. Set in the late nineteenth century in a world of modern marvels, danger and invention, Conan Doyle and Tesla engage the madman in a deadly game of wits.

Martin Hill Ortiz, also writing under the name, Martin Hill, is the author of A Predatory Mind. Its sequel, set in 1890s Manhattan and titled A Predator's Game. It features Nikola Tesla as detective.