Excelsior Spice Mills, Huntoon, Paige, and Co.

Josiah Huntoon moved to Paterson in 1841 from New York City where he had already set up and was successful in a coffe, tea and spice business. Between 1849 and 1855 he constructed his home at 125 Broadway at the corner of Bridge Street, and erected a fine brick mill he named the Excelsior Mills across the street to expand his business in grinding coffee and spices.  His technological advances were recognized by the publication Scientific American in 1859. The article states the annual output of the steam-driven mill was approximately 250,000 lbs of coffee and that 10-12 people were employed. In 1846 he married Sarah Doremus, a cousin of his first wife who had passed away some years previous, and their family grew to eleven children by the end of the 1860s.