Of Columbus and the surrounding countryside, to our new home, the largest ready-to-wear concern in the middle west. We have "broken our shell" and have earned the reputation of a "live" concern. The Lazarus family published this ad in the Columbus News on August 16, 1909: A live chick will break its shell-a dead one never. On Monday morning the bigger and better Lazarus store opened itsĭoors to the public and supported the proud boast that "We have never been closed one minute for construction or repairs!" Store's fixtures and the new departments' merchandise were already installed, so only the merchandise from the old store had to be placed. This was covered with a canopy in case of rain, and everything was put in trucks and moved across to the new building." The Off Town Street, and a platform was laid down from curb to curb six feet wide. "At 12 o'clock," reported the local newspapers, "the city closed before the store was cleared of customers. As was the custom for a Saturday night, it was 11p.m. After the old store closed on Saturday night, August 15, stock was moved across Lazarus store opened on Monday, August 17, 1909, on the northwest corner of High and Town Streets. later commented that "we made a loan to build the store, $350,000, and pledged all the family's realĮstate. With Fred Sr.'s approval, they bought the site of the old United States Hotel. The new Lazarus would offer "everything ready-to-wear" for ladies and children, men andīoys. In 1907, during a major depression, Simon and Fred Jr., persuaded the senior Fred Lazarus to gamble on the future ofĪpparel retailing by setting plans to build a new six-story store across the street from the old one. In 1902 young Simon Lazarus entered store management sadly, Ralph Lazarus died in 1903. Had grown to accommodate 150 "associates," all men, and all of them marched in a parade to welcome home Spanish-American War veterans. A day-to-day diary of the war's progress was maintained in Lazarus' windows. The Lazarus whistle brought the first news of the declaration of the Spanish-American War to Columbus citizens. A hasty examination revealed $400 in the pocket." 1890s: Spanish American War Looking up they saw the trousers caught on a nail in the ceiling. His uniform trousers into the air, glad to be free of them. Lazarus remembered then that when the man had changed clothes he threw He took him down into the old clothes room and the man found everything except the trousers he had worn. A month later he returned, insisting that he had either lost his $400 or left it in his old clothes. He received his new "duds" and left the store. One such customerĮntered the store with $400 in his uniform pocket. Each soldier went to Lazarus where he would be ushered into the basement to exchange his uniform for store clothes (leaving his uniform behind). When Johnny came marching home at the end of the Civil War, one of the first things The Civil War demand for uniforms expanded the men's clothing industry and led to the development of sizing standards. The short version of the story: they got the goods back! In a move that "took some guts, though it may not have been very smart," according to Robert Lazarus, Fred and Ralph gathered up a couple of guns from the store and went to CampĬhase where Morgan's Raiders were staying. The Ohio Penitentiary housed Southern prisoners of war, and the infamous Morgan's Raiders came to Columbus and stole clothing from the The great Whig Convention of 1840, which nominated "Tippecanoe and Tyler too" for President and Vice President, was held in Columbus.īoth the War of 1812 and the Civil War took their tolls on Columbus. When the National Road, the great original pathway of civilization on this continent, came to Columbus in 1833, it brought the isolated Ohio town into profitable and practical contact with the westĪnd the far west. The Ohio Canal produced a commercial revolution in central Ohio after it opened inġ831. The Franklin County Courthouse, completed in 1840, was considered one of the most elegant edifices of its kind. Columbus became the county seat in 1824, and in 1834, it was incorporatedĪs a city. Before nightfall they had killed 1458 squirrels." Apart from the squirrel hunts, the frontier town had much to offer its citizens. Was a frontier town then, boasting 17,882 residents, and High Street was the main thoroughfare, named "High" because the street is on the watershed between the Scioto River to the west and AlumĬolumbus was an exciting place in the early nineteenth century: The Ohio State Journal of 1827 reported "some 18 citizens of Hamilton Township, Franklin County, engaged in an all day squirrel As Jeffrey Sheban of The Columbus Dispatch recently commented, "In 1851, when Simon Lazarus opened a men's tailor shop on the dirt road that was High Street, Columbus really was a cow town." Columbus
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