UMBRELLA WEEK…ALREADY? (1920)
******************************************************************************************************************************** Brownstone Detectives investigates the history of our clients’ homes. The story you are about to read was composed from research conducted in the course of one of those investigations. Do you know the history of YOUR house? ******************************************************************************************************************************** If it was October of 1920, then you knew it was National Umbrella Week…right? Yaaaaaaaa……riiiiiiiiiiight…… At the very least, they were celebrating the occasion down at 114 Court Street. A product of the post-war marketing boom, “National Umbrella Week” was never celebrated again after 1920. But it was good while it lasted. Maybe it sold an extra umbrella or two. Who knows? THE BROOKLYN UMBRELLA COMPANY Today, we know 114 Court Street – that squat, 2-story, brick building in downtown Brooklyn – as a pizza joint. Back in 1919, though, it housed the Brooklyn Umbrella Company. The company sold umbrellas and they fixed umbrellas. This was back in a time when umbrellas were an investment in inclement weather – not throwaways cheaply mass-produced in China. Offering “linen gloria” and “union taffeta,” they sold “umbrellas that are a pleasure to carry.” Owned and operated by Isaac Smith Strong, The Brooklyn Umbrella Company started manufacturing umbrellas at this location around 1895. They finally closed up shop just a few years before the beginning of the depression, after which the location became a beauty shop and then later a restaurant. THE STRONG UMBRELLA Strong, himself, though, produced umbrellas well before 1895, but under his own name at 170 Fulton Street, and then later at […]
THE NO. 8 MACHINE OF FULTON STREET (1876)
The No. 8 Machine. Such a romantic honorific. The name literally rolled off the tongue and dazzled the listener with the rhythm of its mellifluousness and style… OK. I won’t lie. It really wasn’t the sexiest of names. It sounds like a government-designed and -built outhouse. And it smells just as bad. Buyers of sewing machine back in the late 1800s, though, were really not shopping for a sexy name. They were looking for dependability and speed. Stylish sewing machines, then, were like the hotrods of the day for garment producers. Just as for the marketers of the 20th century’s Mark VI or Chrysler 300, or even the Mercedes 190-E, present-day automobile manufacturers always knew that that they “had” their buyers with their brand. They didn’t need a sexy name for their cars. They simply had to tack on the latest model number to their speed machines to let their faithful customers know that it was a new year and that they were once again out of style and out of step with the times. One of the producers of the 19th century speedster sewing machines was the Wheeler & Wilson Company. Their hotrod was the No. 8. SELLING THE NO. 8 And so with the graceful design and the smooth functioning of their No. 8 Machine, Wheeler and Wilson’s creation was on the tongues of many a manufacturer. Garment designers and clothing manufacturers literally felt something move within their hearts when they heard the No. 8 name. Wheeler and […]
TIMEWARP TUESDAY! FULTON ST. FERRY TERMINAL (1900 v. 2014)
“Fulton Street, north side, at Water Street, showing the old Fulton Street Ferry Terminal and the Brooklyn Bridge tower. This is also a street car line terminal.” So reads the back of this ca. 1900 photograph. At that time, the ferries would land at the foot of Fulton Street and the streetcars – then horse-drawn – would take passengers to various parts of the borough. Here is a picture of this spot today: And the picture from 1900: Follow @BrownstoneDetec ———————————————————————————————————————– The Brownstone Detectives This story was composed from research performed by The Brownstone Detectives. Let us do an in-depth investigation of your house and its former owners and produce your very own House History Book. Your hardbound coffee table book will include an illustrated and colorful narrative timeline that will bring the history of your house to life. Contact us today.
