PHOTOS COURTESY SANGAMON VALLEY COLLECTION
In 1886, three Myers brothers opened a retailer on the north aspect of the Springfield sq..
When it was introduced final month that Springfield’s iconic 98-year-old Myers Constructing would go up for public sale, it sparked recollections of the outdated Myers Brothers Division Retailer that introduced a few years of Christmas season bustle to downtown. Here’s a remembrance of division retailer days passed by.
For many years, downtown Springfield was a hustling, bustling place, particularly throughout vacation seasons. Customers crammed the sidewalks, scurrying between the numerous shops or wandering previous the elaborately adorned retailer home windows. There was Roland’s, Bressmer’s, Herndon’s, the Hub, the Platter, Bridge Jewelers, and so on. After which there was Myers Brothers Division Retailer on the nook of Fifth and Washington.
The shop was full of the most recent merchandise for no matter was in type. The primary flooring’s large, shiny glass instances had been stocked full. Surrounding the principle flooring was the balcony referred to as the mezzanine. Customers might go to the varied departments that supplied virtually something anybody wished – males’s and boys’ put on, toddler attire, footwear, jewellery, materials, millinery, cosmetics, fragrance, furs, toys, baggage, books and far more. There have been small departments inside giant departments with particular names – “Daytime Trend,” “Tub and Closet Store,” “Carriage Store,” which was described in 1964: “beautiful woolens on show with sweaters and skirts, blouses and jackets that will make your mouth water.” There was the bridal china part, LP data space, a magnificence salon, a discount basement, and private purchasing service. Cashiers took funds and put them in pneumatic tubes that shot as much as the accounting space. Window dressers created colourful shows within the giant home windows and sometimes acquired recognition for greatest adorned home windows.
One Christmas show window in 1938 showcased somewhat woman doll enjoying the organ. Kelly Sholtis shares a household story: “My great-grandmother was a pianist on the Orpheum Theater. She would stroll previous Myers and see the show. She wrote a poem that Myers used of their Dec. 25, 1938, advert.” Sholtis has a framed copy of the advert. (see the poem on web page 23)
Patti Camille and Linda Morrison bear in mind selecting out their wedding ceremony clothes. Bob Marcy remembers his summer time jobs within the Younger Males’s Division. Bob Hill cherished watching the electrical practice whereas ready for his mother to get off work. Pam Yeager purchased a figurine every year for her mom. Donna Povse remembers selecting out Easter outfits full with hats and patent leather-based footwear. Go to the Recollections of Springfield Fb web page and skim a whole bunch of reminisces concerning the retailer.
Myers was referred to as “The Retailer that High quality Constructed.” High quality was what it supplied in its merchandise and in its consideration to clients in addition to workers. Julie Dirksen says, “They had been recognized for hiring folks of many nationalities, as I do know from my Italian household.”
The historical past of the Myers household in retailing goes again to 1858 when Morris Myers ran a basic retailer in Athens after which opened a retailer in Springfield in 1865. In 1886, his three sons, Albert, Louis and Julius, bought a retailer on the north aspect of the sq. owned by Samuel Rosenwald (father of later famed Sears Roebuck founder Julius Rosenwald). This was the primary Myers Brothers retailer, one room that strictly bought males’s and boys’ garments. In 1905 the brothers constructed a five-story constructing at Fifth and Washington to have the ability to supply extra items.
Tragedy struck in 1924 when the constructing burned to the bottom. The brothers purchased a close-by retailer and its contents and reopened the day after the fireplace. A brand new 10-story constructing was constructed and opened a 12 months later in 1925 on the similar Fifth and Washington web site. Three flooring plus a basement housed the shop; places of work crammed the higher tales. This constructing is now in the marketplace.
When the final of the three brothers died in 1941, the sons of Albert – Albert Jr. and Stanley, and the sons of Louis – Morris and Alan, took over the operation. They turned influential residents of Springfield for many years – Albert was named the First Citizen of Springfield in 1973. The household supported many organizations, helped set up the conference heart and raised funds for Lincoln Memorial Backyard.
By means of the years the shop received nationwide merchandising awards and supplied particular occasions and offers. On Dec. 9, 1910, the primary 500 boys who spent $5 within the boys’ division got a Websters Unabridged Dictionary. In 1941 Rita Hayworth’s gown, price $250,000 and product of cultured pearls, was on show. The shop supplied a sale on pearls. Myers placed on type reveals, entered floats within the State Truthful parades, sponsored a baseball crew (as did many companies), and hosted particular packages.
Myers was the primary division retailer in Springfield to have supply service and an elevator. Girls elevator operators, propped on a excessive stool and carrying white gloves, referred to as out the flooring. In 1949 air-con was added.
Two monkeys joined the shop – Weegee in 1952 and Tiki in 1957. Jamie Myers, grandson of Albert, says, “I actually did not just like the monkeys. They had been imply, however they had been an attraction for a lot of.” Jamie remembers having to decorate up in “starched, uncomfortable garments” when he was round three or 4 to mannequin new kids’s garments. “I later labored within the basement. It took me 65 years to maneuver from the basement to the fifth flooring, the place I now have my psychologist’s workplace.”
The Myers brothers at all times welcomed clients and took an curiosity in attending to know them. Julie Myers Casper tells the story of Francis Dunseth, and her daughter, June, who got here to buy within the Nineteen Fifties. They had been greeted by Alan Myers. “Alan requested concerning the ladies. Francis launched herself and shared that June had come house from Lengthy Seaside, California. Alan instructed them his son, Louis, lived in Lengthy Seaside. One factor led to a different; June and Louis went out on a blind date. She wore an extended, inexperienced silk column gown. Later, they married; I’m their daughter. When my mom died, we buried her in that inexperienced gown. Alan was my grandfather and there’s a image nonetheless hanging within the hallway at the back of the constructing of him greeting clients on the principle flooring.”
One other fashionable retailer, Dirksen’s Furnishings Retailer at Fourth and Washington, was bought in 1965, and Myers added a brand new furnishings division. This enlargement made Myers the most important independently owned retailer in Illinois. A small space between the 2 buildings had a hallway the place the ground wasn’t even. (Many recall tripping.) The realm was referred to as Al’s Alley and housed a Baskin-Robbins, believed to be the one one positioned in a retailer. (Albert Myers and Butch Baskins had been good mates.) That a part of the constructing turned a parking zone round 1989.
Myers Brothers opened a retailer on Sangamon Avenue (1973-1994, the place Schnucks is immediately). Shops opened in different cities – Lincoln, Havana, Danville, Jacksonville, Mattoon, Alton and Decatur.
By 1968 the shop had 70 departments and 275 workers. That 12 months the shop was bought to Phillips-Van Heusen, however the Myers title remained.
The Dairy Rose Restaurant (now Boone’s Saloon), owned by Chares and Mary Lox, served ice cream, sundaes, sandwiches, and Mary’s particular potato soup. (see recipe web page 21). Myers added a Dairy Rose on the shop’s mezzanine in 1977.
A Myers retailer opened in White Oaks Mall in 1978; it, too, had a Dairy Rose restaurant adorned with antiques, stained glass and vegetation. That 12 months Bergner’s purchased the shop, protecting the Myers title till 1983. The downtown retailer closed in 1989.
If Myers Brothers had been nonetheless open this vacation season, little doubt the departments could be full of consumers, standing shoulder to shoulder searching for the very best presents. Probably the realm with toys would look simply because it did years in the past, described within the newspaper with its “counters heaped in glittering profusion.”
Myers Brothers was the place all people shopped.
Cinda Ackerman Klickna remembers purchasing at Myers.
