In 2021, I completed work on the third episode of my YouTube series, “Old New York Photo Mysteries.” In the episode, I documented my discovery of a partial sign visible on the side of a frame in an old picture. After much research, I concluded the sign displayed letters for an old office for Gimbel Brothers, years before the Philadelphia-based company opened its first department store in New York, and decades before the business closed for good in 1986. This article documents my research from beginning to end.
The Photo in the 1903 Trow’s New York City Directory
In the first episode of my YouTube series, I researched the history of several signs to help identify when a photographer captured a picture. The episode received comments from users pointing out some signs painted on walls in big cities might remain in place for many years, including long after a business has moved or closed. The users posited a photo of a sign alone is not enough proof to find what year a photographer captured a picture. Thankfully, I located enough additional evidence for the episode to not need to solely rely on the signage.
Speaking of old signs, I unknowingly began my journey in the third episode upon taking a closer look at the beginning of the Trow’s 1903 New York City Directory. The directory displayed names, occupations, business addresses and home addresses. (1903 was still a bit early for phone numbers.)
A picture printed in the directory appeared quite dark due to the nature of the scanning method employed by the archivists supplying the image for the New York Public Library’s Digital Collections.
The photo’s caption read as follows:
The above picture represents the building 375 Broadway, which was torn down in October, 1901, and revealed a sign of the Trow Directories, which was painted on the outside wall of 377 Broadway in 1856, which at that time and until 1859 was the home of the Trow Directories, when the office was removed to 52 Greene Street, where it remained until 1872. Want of room compelled the removal, in 1872, to 11 University Place, and the same cause compelled us in April, 1903, to again move to 89 and 91 Third Avenue.
In summary, the building appearing torn down on the left side of the picture is 375 Broadway. 377 Broadway was the address of the building with the old, painted Trow Directories sign on the right side of the frame.
A Glance at 89 and 91 Third Avenue
While conducting my initial research, I paused to look at the opposite page in the 1903 Trow’s New York City Directory. The page before the darkened photo displayed a sketch of 89 and 91 Third Avenue, where Trow Directories moved in April 1903.
The same building from the sketch still exists in New York today and now includes one added floor.
According to Google Street View, the letter “T” for Trow Directories still displays above the front door.
The Moment I Found the Gimbel Brothers Sign
I originally planned to end my YouTube episode with the interesting reveal about the “T” above the front door at 89 and 91 Third Avenue. However, I noticed another sign in the darkened photo printed in the 1903 city directory.
The letters “GIMBE” appeared in a darkened part of the right side of the frame at 377 Broadway.
According to the newspaper-archiving website Newspapers.com, a company named Gimbel Brothers resided at 377 Broadway.
In the 1903 city directory, I located the page with the name “Gimbel Bros.” The directory listed the business as a dry goods company at 377 Broadway.
According to numerous newspapers, the first Gimbel Brothers department store in New York did not open until Sept. 29, 1910. This fact begged the question: What was the “Gimbel Bros.” business at 377 Broadway?
Finding Answers
In my research, I documented that, beginning around 1889 through 1893, three listings appeared at the same address. 335 Broadway – a location slightly south of 377 Broadway – was that address. Past city directories listed at 335 Broadway included the business names A. Gimbel & Sons, Gimbel Brothers and Gimbel & Co. The directories described all three listings as dry goods companies.
Around 1893, the Gimbel-named company moved from 335 Broadway to 51 Franklin. Then, in 1897, the business made the small move from 51 Franklin to 53 Franklin. Two years later, in 1899, a city directory listed Gimbel Bros. at 377 Broadway – the same location from the darkened photo in the 1903 Trow’s New York City Directory. The locations of all of these addresses either on Broadway or Franklin are in the same general area.
I was unable to locate a clear picture displaying a period photo of 377 Broadway. However, I did find a picture showing 375 and 377 Broadway from south of the buildings. The New York Public Library Digital Collections hosts that photo, which was shot around 1890 – several years before Gimbel Bros. moved to the location in 1899. (The buildings are difficult to view in the picture and are only slightly visible on the west side of Broadway.)
City directories listed Gimbel Bros. at 377 Broadway until around 1908. A room number even appeared in some of the directories: Room 601.
According to The New York Times, during or around 1908, the company moved to near Union Square, specifically 821 Broadway. The Times’ last listed Gimbel Bros. at 821 Broadway on April 28, 1911.
The Final Puzzle Piece
Did the Gimbel Bros. business listed in old city directories own or operate the Gimbel Brothers (or Gimbels) department store company? Were they two companies happening to feature the same name?
For example, I initially thought the company in the darkened photo might have operated in New York under the name Gimbel Bros. beginning around 1889. Then, the larger department store came to town in 1910, crushing the business of the smaller, unaffiliated store of the same name, causing it to close for good.
However, also in consideration: The fact from around 1889 to 1893, the city directory listings showed A. Gimbel & Sons at 335 Broadway. According to The Vincennes Sun-Commercial, Adam Gimbel (1817-1896) founded in Vincennes, Indiana, the company in 1842 eventually becoming Gimbel Brothers, the large department store. Was the A. Gimbel of A. Gimbel & Sons at 335 Broadway named for Adam Gimbel? If so, why was there no available record of the company’s big arrival in New York until 1910?
I initially believed the fact around 1901 large letters displayed on the front of 377 Broadway reading Gimbel Bros. might mean proprietors intended the building not as a small office but rather a store. After all, city directories listed 377 Broadway and the other locations on Broadway and Franklin as a dry goods company.
However, here’s the truth: Page 53 of the March 1908 edition of The Millinery Trade Review published information about a removal – at the time, a word meaning a company moved – writing, “The New York office of Gimbel Bros., Philadelphia, from 377 Broadway to 821 Broadway.”
Indeed, the Gimbel Bros. sign barely visible in the darkened Trow Directories photo belonged to the Gimbel Brothers department store based in Philadelphia. The fact that city directories mentioned Room 601 for 377 Broadway also tracked, considering the company’s New York office was located in the space.
Gimbel Bros. on Opening Day: Sept. 29, 1910
According to The New York Times, the Gimbel Brothers department store opening on Sixth Avenue, between 32nd and 33rd Streets (photo and artwork), featured 26 acres of floor space, 164 departments, 1,020 telephone stations, 8,000 automatic sprinklers, one and a half miles of mahogany showcases, more than 24,000 light bulbs, 45 show windows, over 100 miles of electric wiring and 17 miles of pneumatic tubes. The tubes served 400 cash stations in order to speed up the ability to make change.
The department store chain later renamed itself to Gimbels, and ceased operations in 1986. Even so, the 2003 film “Elf” featured a store.
Bonus Content #1: Irving Savings Bank
From around 1889 through about 1893, the Gimbel Bros. company leased an office at 335 Broadway. Google Street View imagery shows a sign on the building reading, “Founded 1851.” The sign appeared intended for the Irving Savings Bank, which proprietors founded in 1851.
An Edwin Levick photo provided by the New York Public Library’s Digital Collections website showed the sign apparently did not yet exist or was not visible, as of 1925. Unknown persons apparently added the sign on a later date. The picture’s caption states 335 and 337 Broadway were known as the Textile Building.
Bonus Content #2: Moffat Building
A search of old newspapers displayed results for an 1855 advertisement from The New York Daily Herald.
The ad read, “For Sale. Half of an interest in a business, paying over $3,000 a year. It must be sold this day, before 5 P. M., otherwise it will not be offered thereafter. Apply at 335 Broadway, Moffat’s Building, room No. 22.” In other words, the ad documented the location 335 and 337 Broadway as the Moffat Building. (Again, Gimbel Bros. leased space at 335 Broadway between approximately 1889 and 1893.)
An online search for the Moffat Building displayed a result for an article from Ephemeral New York. The article reported the author of “New York: An Illustrated History” claimed a photo, believed to date to May 1850, might be the oldest ever captured in New York. The left side of the picture displayed a sign for 360 Broadway advertising carriages, while the right side showed a building with a sign reading, “Moffat.”
Ephemeral New York published, “Who was Moffat? John Moffat was a doctor whose ‘Moffat’s Life Pills and Phoenix Bitters’ made him quite wealthy in the mid-19th century. He and his family lived on Union Square, but he also owned the building that bore his name, at 337 Broadway.”
To backtrack, I was looking for information about 335 and 337 Broadway. The ad in the Herald stated the address was originally called the Moffat Building. However, in the photo featured by Ephemeral New York, 360 Broadway displayed on the left and the Moffat Building on the right, either at 335 or 337 Broadway. 360 is an even number and 335 and 337 are odd, meaning they cannot reside on the same side of Broadway. So, what’s happening here?
An ad in The New York Times from March 16, 1855, sorted that question out, reading, “The Moffat Building. No. 335 Broadway. Having been laid out and finished and adapted to the occupancy of bankers, merchants, underwriters, and students, for professional life, is now ready for inspection by parties desirous of obtaining rooms in such a favorable location for business. For terms, and c., apply to William B. Moffat, No. 336 Broadway.”
In other words, Moffat apparently owned at least two buildings, including 335 and 336 Broadway – two structures located across the street from each other.
The Evening Post from March 20, 1849, confirmed this fact as well. In an ad for both 335 and 336 Broadway, the author wrote, “Apply to W.B. Moffat, 336 Broadway, upstairs, between 9 and 2 o’clock.”
Bonus Content #3: Isadore Heilbrunn
I located more details regarding the demolished building at 375 Broadway appearing in the Trow Directories darkened photo. In 1900, The Sun published an ad for a railroad line’s ticket office at the address. Another ad from 1900 for the Northern Steamship Co. promoted a leisurely time on the water in the Great Lakes. The ad mentioned the same building as the railroad ticket office, seeing as the company could apparently provide travelers with information on planning travel.
After workers demolished the building at 375 Broadway in 1901 – information confirmed by the darkened photo description in the 1903 Trow’s New York City Directory – the same workers or others constructed a new one, apparently with apartments. A 34-year-old cigar dealer named Isadore Heilbrunn was one of the new tenants when the new building opened.
On May 27, 1903, The New-York Daily Tribune reported a car blew a fuse and the driver slammed on the brakes, throwing several passengers from the vehicle. Oddly enough, a man named Abraham Abraham was one of those passengers. The car also threw Heilbrunn out, cutting his head.
Then, on July 28, 1903 – two months after the car accident – a court convicted Heilbrunn of stealing water for a laundry where he worked, then almost delivered the ruling of a fine of $500 and three months in jail. In the end, the court fined him only $100 because he was a first-time offender.
The New York Times reported on July 28 how Heilbrunn allegedly managed to steal water for the laundry at the Electric Hand Laundry. According to the story, inspectors for the Water Supply Department “found that Heilbrunn had a meter in his laundry, but in order to avoid the payment of a water bill to the city, he had stretched a fifty-foot rubber hose from the rear of his premises to a stable on South Fifth Street directly behind his store. By means of this hose he filled a large tank.”
Bonus Content #4: ‘Let the Woman Shoot at Him’
On May 27, 1903, The Sun reported the following story:
Let The Woman Shoot at Him.
Dr. Nichols, who says he is the husband of Mrs. Day, Faces Death Calmly.
Urbana, Illinois. May 26. Mrs. S. C. Day, former wife of Assistant Attorney-General W. A. Day, fired four shots at Dr. C. A. Nichols of this city at close range this morning without injuring him. The trouble arose in an interview in which Dr. Nichols pressed his claims to being Mrs. Day’s husband.
Dr. Nichols stood with his arms folded and calmly allowed the woman to shoot at him until she was satisfied. All the bullets went wide.
Bonus Content #5: The Tragedy of Benedict Gimbel
In April 19, 1907, The Sun reported New York police officers arrested 35-year-old Benedict Gimbel, then a secretary and the youngest of the seven brothers in the Gimbel Brothers firm. Police charged Gimbel with assaulting a 16-year-old disabled boy.
According to the newspaper, Gimbel provided the boy a gift, wrote him a letter and intended to spend time with him. (This was 1907, so the newspaper’s author wasn’t descriptive regarding the subject matter.)
Police also charged Gimbel with attempted bribery of an officer after he offered County Detective Edward Reardon $2,100 to release him. According to the story, the Reardon played along and let Gimbel call a bank. The bank at 100 Broadway was closed but offered immediate assistance after hearing the money was for a “Mr. Gimbel.” Once Gimbel secured the money and tried to hand it to Reardon, Reardon knew he acquired plenty of evidence to charge Gimbel with attempted bribery.
The Sun further published that Gimbel gave the boy large sums of money. The boy, described as slender and nearly 6 feet tall, met Gimbel about four months earlier outside the Belasco Theatre.
The reporting said, “A man with $100,000 in cash, who refused to give his name, offered to leave it as a deposit at the Tombs to get Gimbel out.” The story’s author wrote police eventually released Gimbel on a $6,000 bail.
A member of the Gimbel family said the whole incident constituted nothing but a blackmail scheme against Benedict Gimbel.
Benedict Gimbel at Hoboken Hotel
On the next day, April 20, 1907, The Sun reported Benedict Gimbel checked himself into The Palace Hotel in Hoboken, New Jersey, where he reportedly tried to kill himself. The story said he broke a water pitcher and used the sharp edge to slit his throat, severing his windpipe. He also slit one of his wrists, slicing through two arteries.
According to the reporting, a maid discovered Gimbel on the floor of the hotel room, half in the bathroom and half in the bedroom, with blood all around, including on the mattress, the walls, the carpet and even a globe. Police located a hat in the room from Gimbel Bros. in Philadelphia. Gimbel plugged holes around the room’s windows with cotton and paper, purportedly as a way of ending his own life with gas.
Charles Gimbel, listed by The Sun as the New York representative for Gimbel Brothers – and someone who possibly worked in Room 601 at 377 Broadway – released a statement about Benedict Gimbel. Charles Gimbel said Benedict Gimbel was in poor health for four weeks. He also said his brothers had “urged him to take a vacation, which he has refused to do.”
The reporting continued, publishing that, despite the amount of blood lost and the severity of the wounds, doctors expected a quick recovery for Gimbel. However, two days later on April 22, at 3:00 in the morning, Benedict Gimbel died.
At Benedict Gimbel’s death, Gimbel Brothers of Philadelphia released a statement reading, “Gimbel Brothers is a corporation, managed by the seven brothers, deceased being the youngest of the number and holding a small minority block of the stock. His demise will have no more effect on the business than the death of any one director of a railroad.”