Walking on Washington Street at the turn-of-the-last century, a shopper would encounter a great variety of little stores, often family-owned and operated. A glance through city directories and old photographs reveals offerings both familiar and strange to twenty-first century readers: purveyors of tea, coffee and spices; sign painting shops; lumber, straw, and coal dealers; sellers of cigars and imported whiskey; jewelers; confectionaries; undertakers; photography studios; pharmacies; grocers; millinery shops; oyster and fish markets; butcher shops; bakeries; tin and copperware merchants; dyers of silks, satins, and kid gloves; a seller of “toys of every kind” who also sold bottled beer, ale, and porter; and one remarkable stationer who offered patrons access to a circulating library of 6,500 volumes.
Decorative advertising plate for Cordt’s Furniture, Washington and Second Streets, circa 1910. HHM Catalog # 20090210015
Cordt's plate
By the early 1900s, the availability of ready-made clothing had changed the way some goods were sold on Hoboken’s main street. There were still Mom & Pop shops, but local entrepreneurs like German Jewish immigrant Herman Geismar (along with his partner Milton Meyer), and Austro-Hungarian-born Max Polesie, after selling dry goods at other locations, built large, modern emporiums on Washington Street, to offer residents a complete package of consumer goods, including ready-made clothing and household items. Geismar-Meyer’s department store was established downtown in 1908 at 220-224 Washington Street, and Polesie’s at an uptown location, 1018 Washington Street, in 1912. Though Polesie’s went bankrupt in 1914, Geismar’s continued to sell clothing until 1982; traces of both stores can be found on The Avenue today, with gold letters spelling out the Geismar name in the sidewalk at its last address, and Polesie’s signage visible on the upper story of its former location.
Interior photograph of the lounge at the YMCA, 1300 Washington Street, 1927.
YMCA lounge 20011260010
Printed photograph of an earlier incarnation of Polesie’s, the Uptown Department Store, 1028-1030 Washington Street founded by Austro-Hungarian immigrant Max Polesie in 1898. HHM Catalog # 2005024000207
Polesie's
When times were good on Washington Street, savvy business owners tended to expand. Frank H. Cordt’s multi-story furniture store was launched in 1897 on Second and Washington Streets, offering furniture, draperies, carpet, and bedding. Born in Germany, Cordt’s success was regularly touted in publications dedicated to the accomplishments of German immigrants, including one that praised him as “a man fond of society,” and listed his membership, like many of his fellow Washington Street merchants, in the Mason’s Lodge, the Elks, and a local club for German marksmen.
Printed photo, The Geismar department store, 220-224 Washington Street, 1908. HHM Catalog # 2005024000223
Geismar's
Interior photograph of the pool at the YMCA, 1300 Washington Street, 1927.
YMCA pool 20011260016
