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Jacob Nist
Photo: Nist family, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons9

Jacob Nist

American businessman (1839–1907)

Jacob Michael Nist (March 28, 1839 – August 5, 1907) was a pioneering Seattle-based American businessman who established a container manufacturing company. Nist's company has been continuously owned and operated by six generations of the Nist family since 1889.2

From Wikipedia’s article on Jacob Nist (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Born Mar 28, 1839, died Aug 5, 1907.1

About

A century after the founding of Queen City Box Manufacturing Company, Washington's Governor Booth Gardner honored Nist and his family, proclaiming October 23, 1989, to be "Nist Family Day", citing the company's contributions to the state's economy.

As of 2015, the Seattle-Tacoma Box Company is an international company producing containers, storage vaults and packaging, with headquarters in Kent, Washington, as well as operations in Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon, and New Zealand.

From Wikipedia’s article on Jacob Nist, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.2

Companies

Early life and education

Nist was born in Louisville, Kentucky, the son of Joseph and Katharina Minnich Nist. Before 1850 his parents moved the family from Kentucky to the Colony of St. Mary's, a community of German Catholic settlers in Benzinger Township, Elk County, Pennsylvania. Nist married Mary Anna Wagner on October 15, 1860, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he farmed for almost two decades and was a grocer. Their nine children were born in Pittsburgh: Michael, Mary Margaret and Barbara (who both died in early childhood), George, Jacob, John, Aloysius, Joseph and Anna. When Nist was 39 years old, the family moved to Beaver, Kansas, where he farmed and had a mercantile business.

From Wikipedia’s article on Jacob Nist (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Career

Occupation: businessperson.4

Personal life

  • BornMar 28, 1839, Louisville5
  • DiedAug 5, 1907, Seattle6
  • CitizenshipUnited States7

Nist's family-owned company

Queen City Box Manufacturing had expanded its operations by 1903 to include a mining effort in Whatcom County, Washington, with the purchase of a mine formerly owned by the Horseshoe Mining Company.

Sixteen years after the founding of the family business, Nist's eldest son Michael took over the company in 1905, moved it to the southeast corner of 4th Avenue S. and S. Spokane Street in the industrial district, and renamed it the Seattle Box Company, the precursor of Seattle-Tacoma Box Company.

By 1930 the company had survived significant challenges, including four fires, the Great Depression of 1929, and the six-day Seattle General Strike of 1919. These and other challenges, according to one analyst, "would jeopardize the company's very existence. Yet the Company endured and has evolved into the multifaceted organization that exists today as Seattle-Tacoma Box Co."

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Nist Family Day Proclamation

The governor's 1989 proclamation celebrated Nist and his family for many reasons, including the following:

Whereas, in 1889, Jacob Nist founded the Queen City Box Manufacturing Company located on Westlake Avenue; and

Whereas, the great-grandsons of Jacob Nist, Emmett, Eugene and Ferdinand, as well as the great-great-grandsons, Michael and Robert, are fully involved in the company today; and

Whereas, this year the Nist family celebrates 100 years of continuous ownership of the Seattle-Tacoma Box Company in Kent; and

Whereas, the citizens of the State of Washington are proud of the accomplishments of the Nist family and of their contributions to the economy of our state;

Now, therefore, I, Booth Gardner, Governor of the State of Washington, do hereby proclaim October 23, 1989, as Nist Family Day.

From Wikipedia’s article on Jacob Nist (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

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