Public Stores

Public Stores. . , When a vessel from a foreign port arrived in Salem, the Custom House yard came alive. Custom officials loaded up the portable scales and gauges and headed out to a wharf to measure the imported goods. If duties on incoming cargo could not be paid or the goods were destined for another port, the Customs Service had it brought back to this building, known as the Public Stores, to await transfer or the payment of duties. , The three-story Public Stores was built in 1819, at the same time as the Custom House. The two buildings, however, were not connected by any interior doors. , The small brick Scale House was built in the back of the yard in 1829. It housed the scales when they were not in use on the wharves. , The Customs Service used these structures until 1937. Today, the buildings display goods an tools that were typically stored here during Salem's maritime age. , "As an indication of the amount of business transacted by Capt. Joseph Peabody, we would mention the remarkable fact, that in the eight years from 1825 to 1833, he paid into the Salem Custom House for duties, under the Revenue Laws, the enormous sum of $1,814,096.22 - nearly two million dollars! He began life with literally nothing, had to depend upon his own exertions, and his history affords a striking illustration of the success he achieved by a life of industry, probity, and indomitable perseverance." , - Berkshire County Whig, February 1, 1844, Caption , An 1877 view of a bonded warehouse interior. Bonding goods means holding them until duties are paid. In the early 1800s, the import duties owed on a ship's overseas cargo might range from $25,000 to $90,000.