 In 1897 he purchased a cottage with a shop in the rear and sold his first building.During this time his contracting business was steadily growing and in 1902 he erected a fine brick store on North Avenue and Thirty Fourth Street.In 1909 he decided to relinquish the contracting business, although in this connection he was employing from twenty-five to fifty men, and concentrate on the store, the business including the manufacture as well as sale of paints.