Mr. Milton Guilbeau (right) recently donated 2 historical items to Coburn Supply.  An old cast iron warehouse handle & a coffee cup.

Pictured:  Will Benoit (left) & Milton Guilbeau (right)

Cast Iron Warehouse Handle:

Coburn's purchased the Merchant Wholesale Grocery property in 1976, a few years after the business had closed. The original building was built in 1903, Groceries were delivered by horse & wagon at great distances. Sometime later, an additional warehouse was built, date unknown.

A heavy cast iron door knob was noticed on the additional warehouse that was manufactured by `Coburn'. It is sort of historic/coincidence. The date embossed on the handle reads, 1613. That means, January 6, 1913, made 55 years BEFORE Coburn's acquired the property.

The buildings still stands as a well known landmark known as Six Corners, in Lafayette, Louisiana. The State of Louisiana purchased this property several years ago in order to have I-10 access, both sides of the Coburn `block'. 

Coffee Cup:

The coated paper cup was found by Mr. Dallas Simon at the Lafayette Downtown location. It was in a bin of slow moving black fittings. Circa late 1970s.

Houma branch opened in 1955 and is the newest location shown on the cup. The next branch, New Iberia, opened in 1960. We can assume that this cup was used as early as 1955 or 56. (Close to 60 years old).

Here is a listing of branches shown on this cup:

Lafayette-Houma
Maloney Division

Port Arthur-Beaumont
Hayes Division

Baton Rouge
Balcom Division

Lake Charles
B D M Division (believe this stands for Breaux, Demler, McDonald)