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283:
Trust
Company, catty-corner to the store on Town Square. He also acquired a Maryland real estate salesman's license and investment banker's credentials. When Waynesboro Trust merged with the First National in 1926, Bloom left the bank and moved permanently to Baltimore, where his wife Hannah Jaffe Bloom (1885-1956) had lived alone except on weekends since 1905. Still buying for Bloom Brothers, Isaac now founded the Bloom Building and Loan Association, a commercial lending institution located during its first four years (1925–29) on the sixth floor of downtown Baltimore's fashionable Equitable Life Building, which still stands today. In 1929, the bank moved permanently to a storefront on downtown's North Avenue
107:
370:
340:
325:
355:
310:
263:, the Chambersburg store had four locations. Begun at 84 South Main as "The Old Reliable Conn and Bloom", it moved in 1903 across the street to the northeast corner of Queen and South Main (1903-1913). The store assumed its third location in the spring of 1913 on the three floors of the Reisher Building in the middle of the first block of South Main Street. Then in 1939, the store moved to its final location in the Keefer Building on the southeast corner of Queen and South Main, occupying three even larger floors. But with
245:
122:
152:
137:
178:. Having grown too large for its inaugural space, the Chambersburg store moved in April 1903 to its second location at 83 South Main Street on the northwest corner of Main and Queen, where the company began a tradition of offering seven departments of wares to the public: dry goods, men's furnishings (including shoes), millinery, clothing, china, household furnishings, and carpets.
67:, called "Bloom and Conn", succeeded the first (1898–99) but did not flourish; a third, also known as Bloom and Conn, which doubled as a grocery store for its remote Path Valley community, thrived in Dry Run, Pennsylvania, northwest of Chambersburg, at the same time as the Waynesboro store, and the fourth Bloom and Conn began and ended its existence in April 1899 in the
182:
294:
99:
of the firm, managed the company's finances from an office overlooking the main
Chambersburg selling floor, while Harry H. Bloom (1880–1969) became company sales manager after learning the business as a clerk under Isaac at the Waynesboro location. Bloom Brothers opened its second store on March 21,
240:
The
Chambersburg store was the largest of its kind in the Borough of Chambersburg, and both surviving Bloom stores were the first in Franklin County to employ an overhead cash system. Later in their history, the stores pared household furniture, carpeting, and china from their inventory, and by the
282:
Isaac H. Bloom, childless and gifted with seemingly boundless energy, divided his time from 1912 until 1926 between the stores and a newly founded national bank. He served as both chief buyer for the Bloom department stores and as second vice-president and senior lending officer of the
Waynesboro
225:. When Bloom returned, the Baltimore stores did not reopen; instead, the elder Bloom, educated in German preparatory schools but forbidden by authorities to enroll at a university, seeing that the Pennsylvania stores were in good hands, fulfilled a lifelong dream by visiting
279:) built its granite headquarters, survived intact until the bank repurchased it in December 1972 for its annex. On June 28, 1973, a fire consumed the former Bloom Brothers store, occupied since 1933 by Sherman's Shoe Store, hastening the building's demolition by the bank.
209:, crowded Bloom Brothers' aisles every Saturday, and the Waynesboro store, having outgrown the first floor of the Old Town Hall, moved to a double-storefront at 23-25 West Main Street in March 1903 (see pictures), where it would remain for the duration of its existence.
212:
In 1905, the brothers’ newly widowed father, Morris Bloom (1838-1925), opened men's clothing and furnishings stores at 32 and 100 Exeter Street, respectively, in East
Baltimore, but the elder Bloom left the country in October, 1906, to aid a brother that had contracted
106:
94:
during the company's "Conn and Bloom" phase, leaving Jacob's older brothers Ben and Isaac H. Bloom (1872–1955) to open the first Bloom
Brothers store at 84 South Main in Chambersburg on March 10, 1900. Eli F. Bloom (1876–1941),
267:
claiming virtually all consumer goods and the family's youngest generation serving in the armed forces overseas, the
Chambersburg store was forced to close its doors on March 1, 1944, to front-page headlines in the
287:
and remained there until Isaac Bloom's death in June 1955, meeting once a week on
Thursday evenings to review loan applications. Coincidentally, the area remains a hub of storefront lending companies to this day.
169:
in March 1904 at the age of 32, but Bloom
Brothers thrived under Isaac as president and principal buyer, earning a dedicated customer base by offering "15% to 25% lower prices than other stores" advertised in the
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324:
309:
369:
339:
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100:
1901, in the former Old City Hall on
Waynesboro's Town Square. The Dry Run location reverted to Conn family ownership in 1900 upon dissolution of "Conn and Bloom/Bloom and Conn".
90:, the partnership between the Conns and Blooms was dissolved and each family started its own company. The Bloom family's oldest child, Jacob Bloom (1869–1898), fell victim to
275:
The Bloom Building, an office building at 17 West Main in Waynesboro carved out of the National Hotel/Hotel Werner when the First National Bank of Waynesboro (now a part of
796:
791:
121:
151:
43:. Simon Conn (1860–1932) and Benjamin Bloom (1861–1904), an uncle and his nephew, respectively, whose immediate ancestors had emigrated from western
136:
259:
While the Waynesboro store remained at 23-25 West Main, its second location, from March 1903 until it closed in 1933 during the
634:
115:(1838-1925), learned father of the Bloom brothers and proprietor of the short-lived Baltimore specialty stores (Bloom family)
39:
The Old Reliable Dry Goods Store, Conn and Bloom, Proprietors, opened on April 24, 1897, at 84 South Main Street in downtown
79:
between 1900 and 1905, offering finer men's clothing and furnishings, respectively, but they closed after less than a year.
20:
753:"Stores," files, Pennsylvania Room, Alexander Hamilton Memorial Library, Waynesboro, Pennsylvania 17268, accessed 2007.
68:
72:
40:
28:
680:
Letter, C. C. Heeb, President, Chamber of Commerce, to Harry H. Bloom, February 1, 1944, Bloom Family Archives.
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201:, the frugal farmers and merchants of the surrounding Pennsylvania and Maryland countryside, many of them
303:, 84 South Main Street (first store from right), 1897-1900 and 1900-1903, respectively (Postcard image)
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27:, from the company's founding in 1897 as The Old Reliable Dry Goods Store until the closing of the
24:
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610:"Aged woman called by death," Chambersburg: The Franklin Repository, February 21, 1905, 1.
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In February 1900, with the extended Bloom and Conn families now settled in south-central
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in the 1840s, opened the store after peddling goods from farm to farm in south-central
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stands between Sherman's and columned First National Bank (Waynesboro Record Herald)
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363:, 74-76 South Main Street, 1913–39, second store from right (Postcard image)
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181:
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76:
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44:
318:, Waynesboro Old Town Hall, Town Square, 1901-03 (Waynesboro Record Herald)
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buildings (Zenith and Sherman's), 23-25 West Main Street, June 28, 1973.
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60:
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599:
A Reflection on the History of Waynesboro, Pennsylvania, and vicinity
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75:, for lack of space. The fifth and sixth Bloom stores opened in East
52:
689:
Cox, Robert, "Flames Wreck Sherman Building Downtown," Waynesboro:
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202:
180:
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Besore, Carl V., and Robert L. Ringer. "The Sherman Building."
333:(looking north), 83 South Main Street, 1903-13 (Postcard image)
160:(1880-1969), vice-president and sales manager (Bloom family)
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233:, while staying with his younger sister and her family in
251:
Children's Room painting of Main Street in 1913 includes
130:(1874-1955), president and principal buyer (Bloom family)
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738:
145:(1876-1941), treasurer and comptroller (Bloom family)
762:
Louis Kenemann and Sons, Baltimore, Maryland, c1921
378:, 104-108 South Main Street, 1939-44 (Bloom family)
272:and the surprise of the entire extended community.
702:"Prospectus: The Waynesboro Trust Company," 1912.
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348:, 23-25 West Main Street, 1903-31 (Bloom family)
787:Defunct department stores based in Pennsylvania
449:. Harrisburg: Patriot Publishing Company, 1906.
418:
416:
410:, Harrisburg: Patriot Publishing Company, 1884.
593:
591:
589:
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8:
659:Courtesy Chambersburg Heritage Center, 2006.
635:"Cash carriers - locations in Pennsylvania"
581:Waynesboro Record Herald, June 29, 1973, 8.
255:, 1913-39 (Chambersburg Heritage Center)
388:
290:
102:
63:since the mid-1880s. A second store in
797:1944 disestablishments in Pennsylvania
473:Chambersburg (PA) Franklin Repository
7:
720:Baltimore City Directories, 1929-55.
792:1897 establishments in Pennsylvania
197:Thanks to the company's aggressive
14:
534:Waynesboro (PA) Blue Ridge Zephyr
241:1930s they sold mainly clothing.
730:Chambersburg (PA) Public Opinion
570:Chambersburg (PA) Public Opinion
558:Chambersburg (PA) Public Opinion
546:Chambersburg (PA) Public Opinion
522:Chambersburg (PA) Public Opinion
368:
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150:
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17:Bloom Brothers Department Stores
711:Baltimore City Directory, 1926.
619:Baltimore City Directory, 1904.
497:Chambersburg (PA) Valley Spirit
485:Chambersburg (PA) Valley Spirit
435:Chambersburg (PA) Valley Spirit
423:Chambersburg (PA) Valley Spirit
396:Chambersburg (PA) Valley Spirit
669:Waynesboro (PA) Evening Herald
601:, 3 vols. Waynesboro, 1994-96.
376:Bloom Brothers Chambersburg #4
361:Bloom Brothers Chambersburg #3
331:Bloom Brothers Chambersburg #2
301:Bloom Brothers Chambersburg #1
253:Bloom Brothers Chambersburg #3
1:
21:Franklin County, Pennsylvania
691:The Waynesboro Record Herald
346:Bloom Brothers Waynesboro #2
316:Bloom Brothers Waynesboro #1
249:Chambersburg Heritage Center
187:Bloom Brothers Waynesboro #2
270:Chambersburg Public Opinion
813:
172:Chambersburg Valley Spirit
73:Burnt Cabins, Pennsylvania
41:Chambersburg, Pennsylvania
29:Chambersburg, Pennsylvania
650:, accessed 21 April 2014.
19:were located at sites in
630:The Cash Railway Website
447:Baltimore City Directory
408:Baltimore City Directory
231:Cambridge, Massachusetts
65:Waynesboro, Pennsylvania
524:, February 2, 1944, p1.
475:, February 9, 1898, p1.
165:Benjamin Bloom died of
256:
223:Boksburg, South Africa
194:
744:Postcard image, 1910.
560:, March 20, 1903, p3.
536:, March 21, 1901, p1.
437:, April 19, 1899, p5.
398:, April 28, 1897, p8.
247:
185:Fire consumes former
184:
671:, September 4, 1930.
572:, April 1, 1903, p3.
548:, March 7, 1904, p4.
499:, March 9, 1900, p4.
732:, January 13, 1969.
693:, June 29, 1973, 8.
487:, February 22, 1900
25:Baltimore, Maryland
425:, May 4, 1898, p4.
257:
227:Harvard University
195:
191:The Bloom Building
176:Waynesboro Herald
31:, store in 1944.
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128:Isaac H. Bloom
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641:on 2014-04-22
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86:and northern
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69:Fulton County
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643:. Retrieved
639:the original
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277:M&T Bank
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265:World War II
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215:tuberculosis
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167:tuberculosis
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143:Eli F. Bloom
142:
127:
113:Morris Bloom
112:
92:tuberculosis
84:Pennsylvania
81:
57:Pennsylvania
38:
16:
15:
632:, Internet
237:(1909–12).
199:discounting
781:Categories
645:2014-04-21
384:References
71:hamlet of
285:Baltimore
207:Mennonite
97:treasurer
77:Baltimore
49:Louisiana
45:Lithuania
174:and the
88:Maryland
61:Maryland
35:History
235:Boston
217:while
53:Kansas
23:, and
203:Amish
462:1906
205:and
51:and
229:in
221:in
47:to
783::
737:^
586:^
504:^
454:^
415:^
648:.
Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. Additional terms may apply.
