James Frederick Garvey was born in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1880 and moved to Lincoln in 1895. Garvey, who had worked at a number of varied jobs, founded the J. F. Garvey Company in 1905 which, by 1910, was listed as being in the grocery specialty business “manufacturing food and household products” at 233 North Ninth Street in the general area now occupied by Barry’s Bar. A decade later the east side of the 300 block of South Ninth Street was beginning to have new brick buildings including 301 S. Ninth, 313 S. Ninth intriguingly home of the Lincoln Steam Paste Co. and 315 S. Ninth where the Hisom Remedy Company was located.

In 1920 the Garvey Company purchased the Lambert Machine Company’s French burr stonemill which allowed their ad to say they were now “doing a splendid peanut butter business covering five states.” Two years later Mr. Garvey got a bit of local press by being a founding member of the National Peanut Butter Manufacturers' Association. although peanut butter was the primary Garvey product, an ad later the same year said they were then only in the wholesale business and referred to their products as condiments.