- N. Snellenburg & Company
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N. Snellenburg & Company Industry retail Fate acquired by Lit Brothers Founded 1869 Defunct 1962 Headquarters Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Products clothing Employees 3,000 Parent Bankers Securities Corporation N. Snellenburg & Company, commonly known as Snellenburg's, was a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania based middle class department store and wholesale clothing manufacturer, established in 1869. The company became the largest clothing manufacturer in the world and at one time employed 3,000.[citation needed] The company sold directly from the workroom to the wearer, allowing clothing to be sold for lower prices. Its slogan was "The Thrifty Store for Thrifty People." In about 1952, the company was acquired by Bankers Securities Corporation, owned by Albert M. Greenfield, but remained family run until its closure in 1962.[1] Suburban locations were then acquired by Lit Brothers.
Contents
Flagship Store and Factory
Snellenburg's Department Store, 1100 Market St., Philadelphia, PA (1886-87, demolished), in a circa 1915 photograph.
The company moved from its South Street location, where it was founded in 1869 by Joseph Snellenburg, to fashionable 12th and Market Streets in 1889.[2] The store was at a location known as the "Girard Estate." At that time, the company directors were Nathan Snellenburg, Samuel Snellenburg, Simon L. Bloch, and Joseph J. Snellenburg.[3] The Snellenburg's Clothing Factory, 642 N. Broad St., in Philadelphia, built in 1905, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. The N. Snellenburg Company Department Store Warehouse, 1825-1851 N. 10th St., in Philadelphia, was built in 1914, and added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2003. In 1965, the mens store annex at 34 South 11th Street, became the first location of Community College of Philadelphia. It still stands and is used by the Family Court of Philadelphia. The six story flagship store at 12th and Market was subsequently cut down to the present two story building and redeveloped as part of the Reading Terminal project.
Wilmington Store
In 1895, the company opened a branch location at the corner of Seventh and Market Streets in Wilmington, Delaware. The store manager was David Snellenburg.[4]
Into the Suburbs
In October 1953, Snellenburg's opened a suburban store in the Snellenburg Shopping Center, in Willow Grove, Pennsylvania. Another store operated at 24th and Oregon Ave., Philadelphia, and one at Broomall, Pennsylvania at Lawrence Park & Sproul. On October 29, 1960, presidential candidate John F. Kennedy gave remarks from both these locations.[5] A store also operated in downtown Atlantic City, New Jersey at Atlantic & Carolina. When Snellenburg's closed its downtown Philadelphia store in 1962, the suburban locations were sold to Lit Brothers.[6]
References
- ^ Philly Blog (accessed Sep 1, 2008)
- ^ "City Trust," TIME Magazine, Aug 16, 1937.
- ^ Morais, Henry S. (1894) The Jews of Philadelphia: Their History from the Earliest Settlements to the Present Time; a Record of Events and Institutions, and of Leading Members of the Jewish Community in Every Sphere of Activity, (The Levytype Co.)
- ^ Young, Toni, (1999) Becoming American, Remaining Jewish: The Story of Wilmington, Delaware's First Jewish Community, 1879-1924, (University of Delaware Press) ISBN 9780874136944.
- ^ Woolley John T. and Gerhard Peters, The American Presidency Project [online. Santa Barbara, CA: University of California.
- ^ Old York Road Historical Society, (2002) Making of America: The Morelands and Bryn Athyn, Arcadia Publishing ISBN 9780738511191.
- Baltzell, Edward Digby (1989) Philadelphia Gentlemen: The Making of a National Upper Class, (Transaction Publishers) ISBN 9780887387890.
External links
- Free Library of Philadelphia, photograph of flagship store (accessed Sep 1, 2008).
- Hagley Digital Archives Collection, photograph of Wilmington store, ca. 1900 (accessed Sep 1, 2008).
- Archiplanet.com Snellenburg's Clothing Factory, 642 N. Broad St., Philadelphia (accessed Sep 1, 2008).
- Archiplanet.com N. Snellenburg Company Department Store Warehouse, 1825-1851 N. 10th St., Philadelphia (accessed Sep 1, 2008).
Categories:- Defunct retail companies of the United States
- Defunct department stores of the United States
- Companies based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
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