James E. Nichols

James E Nichols (1845 - 1914) 

James Edwin Nichols was born on April 26, 1845 in Meredith, New Hampshire to Robert and Huldah Nichols. In 1864 at 19 years old he moved to Boston to work in the cloth industry. His first job was as a clerk for Joran Marsh then as a traveling salesman for F. A.& J. Sawyer and the Franklin Woolen Mills. He often would have to travel to New York. 

By 1879 James was able to purchase an interest in Fitts & Austin (formerly Fitts, Austin & Turner) resulting in the creation of a new company called Austin, Nichols & Co. Austin, Nichols & Company was a wholesale grocery supplier founded in 1879, that was headquarters in a ten-story building on Hudson Street in the Tribeca, Manhattan. The company also operated eight smaller location hubs throughout Northeast. Nichols became managing partner Austin-Nichols & Company, selling spirits and canned goods to small retail grocers across the Northeast and Midwest. In 1885 Robert Austin died and James became Chief Executive Officer of the firm. Austin- Nichols was a major distributor of whiskey through their stores. 

At the end of the 19th century, this period was the “Golden Age of Austin Nichols”, the very beginning of the era of packaged goods. The Austin Nichols name was known from Maine to Florida and coast to coast. Austin Nichols became an integral piece in getting whiskey to the consumer across this great land of ours under James Nichols direction. 

James Nichols was also an avid horseman, owning several thoroughbreds, and a big game hunter.  He was intrigued by polar exploration and his firm also provided the food supplies to the Greely, Peary, Fiala, and Roosevelt arctic expeditions. In 1909, James Nichols donated the money for a library in Center Island New Hampshire where he was born as a way of giving back to the community. That library, The James E. Nichols Memorial Library has provided for the people of Center Island, New Hampshire for the last 115 years.

After Nichols death during the forties and for the next three decades, Austin Nichols remained a non-distiller producer—bottling bourbon purchased on the open market under the Wild Turkey brand. Much of this whiskey was purchased from the Ripys/Gould distillery in Tyrone. In 1971, Austin Nichols purchased the facility, then known as the Boulevard Distillery, and changed the name to the Wild Turkey Distillery.

Contributed by: Bill Sergio, Selden, New York with assistance from the James E Nichols Memorial Library

with support from Dustin Bowman, The Bluegrass Region Section Editor, Lawrenceburg, Kentucky