Horne's

Infobox_Company
company_name = Joseph Horne Company
company_
company_type = Department store
foundation = 1849
closed = 1994
location = Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
industry = Retail
products = Clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, and housewares.
homepage = None
The Joseph Horne Company, often referred to simply as Joseph Horne's or Horne's, was an iconic regional department store chain based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The store is one of the oldest in the country being founded in 1849 but do to its limited presence in the country it is often over looked. The chain ceased operations in 1994 after being merged with the Lazarus division of Federated Department Stores.

Horne’s Founding Families

Joseph Horne (1826-1891) was born in Bedford County, Pennsylvania, the son of Henry Horne, who had served in the Continental Army, Henry intended his son to be a physician. Joseph had other plans, moved west to Pittsburgh and found his first job in the retail trade with Christian Yeager, the father of South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club member H. C. Yeager. Soon, Joseph moved to the F.H. Eaton store, and first became a partner. He bought out the business in 1849, renaming it The Joseph Horne Company, a name it would bear for more than 130 years. Horne was 23 at the time of the purchase. He joined forces with Christian B. Shea and A. P. Burchfield, whose families intermarried and entered the business, and brought a hauteur to this emporium that has never been equaled in Pittsburgh.

In 1881 the firm built their new building designed by Charles Tattersall Ingham at Wood and Liberty. In 1891, at age 65, Horne sold the wholesale side of his company's operations to the Pittsburgh Dry Goods Company. He married twice — first to Mary Elizabeth Shea, later to Emma Galway — and sired numerous children. His son Durbin Horne, born in 1854, was among Horne's children who followed their father into the family business. Both Joseph and Durbin Horne were members of the area's elite South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club. Joseph Horne died in 1892.

Christian Bernard Shea (1835 – 1900) was the brother-in-law of Joseph Horne, and his founding partner in The Joseph Horne Company. Shea was involved with both halves of the family business — retail (Joseph Horne Co. Department Store) and wholesale (Pittsburgh Dry Goods Company). Shea was also member of South Fork Fishing and Hunting Club, with suffered devastation during 1889's Johnstown Flood.Click to see a Picture of Joseph Horne http://www.lds.org/churchhistory/pioneer/company/captain/images/Joseph%20Horne1861%20and%201862.gif

History

In 1849 Horne's began operations as The Joseph Horne Company after Joseph Horne brought the Eaton Co. It soon became a leading Pittsburgh department store. In 1879 a new central location was built at Penn Avenue and Stanwix Street in Downtown Pittsburgh, a seven-story landmark which was the first department store in the city's downtown. The building still stands to this day and a Horne's sign remains on the building to remember the store, similar to exterior details which continue to be displayed at the former Pittsburgh Kaufmann's on Smithfield.St.

In 1972 Associated Dry Goods acquired Horne's, and ADG expanded operations of Horne's to several stores in suburban malls throughout the Pittsburgh region as well as in Erie, Pennsylvania and Northeast Ohio. In December 1986, Horne's was acquired by a local investor group following ADG's acquisition by May Department Stores. The local buyout was part of May's divesting of the Horne's chain, since May was already the owner of cross-town rival Kaufmann's.

Two years later, the Arkansas-based department store chain Dillard's and Edward J. DeBartolo Sr. agreed to acquire Horne's, with plans of combining it with an other recent acquisition for Dillard's — the Ohio-based Higbee's store chain. The deal was canceled abruptly, resulting in several years of litigation. [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DE7D8173FF931A3575BC0A96E948260] Dillard's eventually agreed to acquire five Ohio Horne's stores as part of a legal settlement in 1992.

By 1994, Federated Department Stores acquired the remaining ten Horne's stores and merged them with its Lazarus division, completely ceasing all operations of any store under the Horne's name. This caused some anger among Pittsburgh shoppers, as Horne's was the oldest store in the city. Horne's had been a 145-year-old Pittsburgh tradition. The company is often praised for surviving for 145 years with only a maximum of 15 stores. Several of the former Horne's locations operating as Lazarus were closed in 1998. Those that remained eventually became known as "Lazarus-Macy's" and in 2006 were joined with Kaufmann's in the nationwide Macy's consolidation. [http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05059/464055.stm]

Flagship store

The flagship Horne's Department Store in Pittsburgh was the first department store in Pittsburgh. Until the founding of Kaufmann's, it was the only department store in the city. A seven-story marvel built in 1879, the store had a total of four entrances — two on Stanwix Street, and two on Penn Avenue. It had 630,000 square feet of selling space and was the city's second largest department store. The store remained Horne's until 1994 when it was switched over to Lazarus. Lazarus only remained in the building for 1 year before building a new location on Fifth Ave. The building was then brought by Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield and remains to this day as Highmark offices.

The Horne's Tree

The lighting of the Horne's Christmas tree at the flagship store was a long-held holiday season tradition. The 6 story electric tree would be placed on the corner of the building at Penn ave. and Stanwix St. People would crowd the corner for a show and the lighting. The tree is still displayed annually in the tradition of Pittsburgh's "Light-Up Night" at the Horne's building. Crowds in the past also eagerly awaited the Christmas window displays at Horne's, once part of the high competition among Pittsburgh's downtown stores for the attention of the "Light-Up Night" visitors.

Left over Horne's

Several years after the closing of the last Horne's stores, several signs remain at the historic downtown flagship store building, each bearing the Horne's name. On the left corner of the building, two plaques remain that read "Joseph Horne Co Dry Goods Imports and Retailers". Also, above three of the entrances to the building, there is a sign engraved in stone that reads "1849 - Joseph Horne Co. - 1879" marking the founding of the company and the year the building was built. Four sidewalk slabs adjoining the building also have the Horne's logo engraved in them.

Horne's and popular culture

Well beyond Pittsburgh, Horne's became a part of popular culture. Artist Andy Warhol worked at a Horne's location in the store's display department as a summer job in 1947. [http://edu.warhol.org/20c_chron.html]

Horne's also made notable appearances in movies, including the Monroeville Mall Horne's location, which was shown in George Romero's 1978 movie "Dawn of the Dead". The Downtown Pittsburgh flagship store was the site of the 1987 erotic thriller, " [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093379/ Lady Beware] ", starring Diane Lane as a window designer. This was Horne's most notable appearance, because it was shown in its fullest and was not blocked out in the movie. Diane Lane's character worked at Horne's proudly.

ee also

*List of defunct department stores of the United States

Former Locations

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title = Former locations
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Ohio

* Boardman - Southern Park Mall (sold to Dillard's 1992)
* Cleveland Heights - Severance Town Center (opened 1989, sold to Dillard's 1992, was Dillard's Men's/Home store, closed & demolished 1995)
* Fairview Park - Westgate Mall (sold to Dillard's 1992, was Dillard's Women's store until closed 2004, demolished)
* Mentor - Great Lakes Mall (sold to Dillard's 1992, now Dillard's Men's/Home store)
* North Randall - Randall Park Mall (opened 1976, sold to Dillard's 1992, which immediately closed it, eventually became Burlington Coat Factory)

Pennsylvania

* Erie - Downtown (Erie Dry Goods Co./Boston Store flagship, became division of Horne's 1977, closed 1979)
* Erie - Millcreek Mall (opened as Boston Store 1974, became division of Horne's 1977, became Horne's 1979, became Lazarus 1994, closed 1998. then Elder-Beerman, now Bon-Ton)
* Erie - West Erie Plaza (opened as Boston Store 1968, became division of Horne's 1977, became Horne's 1979, became Lazarus 1994, closed 1998, currently a Gabriel Bros. store.)
* Hempfield - Greengate Mall (opened 1965, became Lazarus 1994, closed 1998, demolished 2003, site of current Panera Bread)
* Monaca - Beaver Valley Mall (opened 1970, became Lazarus 1994, closed 1998, now a Boscov's)
* Monroeville - Monroeville Mall (opened 1969, became Lazarus 1995, Lazarus-Macy's 2003, Macy's 2005)
* Natrona Heights - Heights Plaza Shopping Center (opened 1956, became Lazarus 1995, Lazarus-Macy's 2003, Macy's 2005)
* Pittsburgh - Downtown, 501 Penn Avenue & Stanwix Street (flagship, became Lazarus 1994, closed 1995)
* Pittsburgh - Northway Mall (opened 1962, closed 1989 following opening of Ross Park store, Northway and Ross Park operated simultaneously for a short time)
*Pittsburgh - Brentwood Plaza (closed when Century III Mall store opened)
* Pittsburgh - Ross Park Mall (built as Gimbels (but never occupied), sold to Horne's when the Gimbels chain shuttered - opened 1986, became Lazarus 1994, Lazarus-Macy's 2003, Macy's 2005, closed 2006, site of future Nordstrom)
* Pittsburgh - South Hills Village (opened 1965, became Lazarus 1995, Lazarus-Macy's 2003, Macy's 2005)
* Pittsburgh - South Hills Furniture Gallery (opened 1993, became Lazarus 1995, Lazarus-Macy's 2003, Macy's 2005)
* West Mifflin - Century III Mall (opened as Montgomery Ward 1979, became Horne's 1986, became Lazarus 1994, closed 2001, sold to Kaufmann's, currently Macy's Furniture Gallery)

References