HISTORY FROM OHA: 17 South Salina St. – Syracuse’s Long-Lasting Clothing Emporium

On one of Syracuse’s busiest thoroughfares, one specific address — 17 South Salina St. — maintained an illustrious commercial history throughout the 19th century, in housing some of the city’s most renowned clothiers at the time. Subsequently, renumbered as 123 South Salina St. before 1890, 17 South Salina was located in the historic Lansing Building. That building, according to The Post-Standard, was a “four-story structure fronting one hundred feet” sandwiched between the Syracuse House and railroad depot, and later located “immediately to the south of the Onondaga County Savings Bank” building. Interestingly, at least six separate clothing and merchant tailoring firms occupied this space in the Lansing between 1857 and 1896. This reality, however, remains no surprise given the lucrative nature of the garment manufacturing business at this time. In 1856, The Syracuse Standard reported on the general success of the nation’s clothing industry, contending that in New York City alone, over $26 million worth of clothes were assembled for retail sale. Clothing production was still not yet largely mechanized. Fabric cutters would prepare the pieces for sewing, and tailors employed by various clothiers and their families would, either by hand or with the use of a simple sewing machine, convert these materials into ready-for-wear garments such as coats, vests, and pantaloons. As reported by The Syracuse Standard, the D. and J. Groff Clothing Store was among the first costume retailers to occupy this space. The Groffs initially relocated their establishment to 17 South Salina St. in July 1857, where they proceeded to sell their extensive and fashionable stock of “merchant tailoring goods.” Yet the second significant merchant business among the myriad of clothiers who had operated their enterprise from 17 South Salina was the infamous firm of Fiske, Morgan, and Kugler. The Fiske, Morgan, and Kugler Clothing Store at this location was managed by local Syracusans William B. Fiske, James Morgan, and George Kugler, respectively, beginning in 1859. Among the products sold at this retailer was a device known as a “bosom expander,” which was worn by men and was intended, as described in a patent for the device granted earlier that year to D. M. Church and C. H. Ellsworth of Birmingham, Connecticut, to be worn under one’s garments and swell his chest to ensure that his “shirt and vest [had] a handsome and neat fit” and did not appear baggy or ill-fitting. Prior to the start of the Civil War, these expanders were especially useful for soldiers to wear to fit properly in their uniforms, and Fiske, Morgan, and Kugler claimed in the Onondaga Standard in August 1860 to be the “exclusive agents” for the sale of this invention across the city of Syracuse. Interestingly, while the Fiske, Morgan, and Kugler Clothing Store was in operation, it permitted a Scottish individual, John B. McPhail, to operate a saloon in its lower building space for a brief period during 1859. Barney Stone and Washington Jordan originally opened a saloon in the basement underneath Fiske’s Clothing Store in June 1859, but soon transferred this space to McPhail. As reiterated within a Syracuse Standard article published on Sept. 22, 1859, McPhail by that point had “taken [a] saloon on Salina Street, under [the] Fiske, Morgan, and Kugler’s Clothing Store” at 17 South Salina, where George Skinner “preside[d] at the bar,” and this tavern was known as the “Troy Saloon.” As enumerated in the 1855 New York State Census, John McPhail was previously a resident of the 6th ward of the city of Troy, in Rensselaer County in the state of New York, along with his wife Annah and children Mary Ann, James, and Emma, as well as a servant, Mary Mathew, from Ireland, before he relocated to Syracuse to operate his tavern business. It therefore appears fitting that his former residence in Troy likely became the namesake for McPhail’s “Troy Saloon.” By Nov. 15, 1859, the Syracuse Standard reported that McPhail “sold Troy Saloon, under Fiske’s Clothing Store, to Noah Gale, who [had] changed the name to Auburn Saloon,” and where Gale also served a plethora of oysters and clams to his customers. Evidently, this provision of hearty food and drink appeared to entice visitors to Fiske, Morgan, and Kugler’s Clothing Store for more than just the acquisition of new garments. In December 1860, The State League reported that William B. Fiske of Syracuse had passed away from typhoid fever. The Syracuse Journal further documented that in September 1862, in light of this untimely death of their colleague, the co-partnership between Morgan and Kugler was subsequently “dissolved, by mutual consent,” and directly thereafter, George Kugler formed a new business relationship with John H. Brooks, a fellow clothing merchant. Together, Kugler and Brooks operated their mutual sales and tailoring enterprise at No. 2 Wieting Block in Syracuse, where George Kugler himself was “happy to see and serve his former friends and patrons” who had been his customers at Fiske, Morgan, and Kugler. The provision of fall and winter clothing was among Brooks and Kugler’s specialties, and the gentlemen further prided themselves on selling overcoats, English walking coats, and business and dress clothing for men of a “superior quality, style, and variety of assortment,” but still at “fair and reasonable prices.” In 1866, the Journal published a notice stating that yet a third apparel retailer, J. D. Ackerman, joined the partnership of Brooks and Kugler in the Wieting Block. The firm of Brooks, Kugler, and Ackerman remained intact until the fall of 1876, when George Kugler withdrew from the “business of this well-established, extensive and popular cloth, clothing, and furnishing house,” and thereby allowed Brooks and Ackerman to purchase his interest in the conglomerate and subsequently continue their commercial ventures as a duo. Meanwhile, James Morgan continued to autonomously operate the merchant tailorship and clothing store at 17 South Salina St. from 1862 until 1873 without his two former partners. Like Brooks and Kugler’s enterprise, Morgan’s shop also specialized in the provision of fall and winter wear for his male clients, and he at many times personally attended to the section of material for the suits or garments that were made for his customers. Nevertheless, the fracturing of the partnership between Morgan and Kugler was not without competition. At one point, in March 1866, the Syracuse Journal contended that Morgan had poached the services of John Haas, a talented garment cutter who was formerly employed by Brooks and Kugler, to add to his own staff. However, if this “theft” of personnel resulted in the brooding of any animosity, such antagonism between Kugler and Morgan was temporary. Subsequently, for a brief period in 1869 and 1870, it is interesting to note that George Kugler attempted a professional collaboration at 22 East Genesee St. with Robert J. Morgan, James Morgan’s son who worked as a clothing clerk and with his father for many years. However, this partnership formed for the “purpose of conducting the merchant tailoring business” was short-lived, even though Kugler was touted at the time in the Syracuse Journal as the “best cutter [of clothing material] in Syracuse.” Morgan’s Clothing Store remained in operation at 17 South Salina St. until 1873, when the Syracuse Journal published an advertisement to disseminate the news that his “entire stock and store fixtures” would be “ for sale in bulk,” indicating a closure of his shop. Ironically, Alva C. Spencer, the founder of the Spencer Clothing Company, was listed in this announcement as the assignee of Morgan’s estate and effects, which may have played a pivotal role in enabling him to ultimately assume control of Morgan’s store. It was demarcated in the Syracuse Journal in March 1874 that Spencer anticipated relocating and opening a new furnishings store at the address which had been “formerly Mr. Morgan’s” by the first of April in that year. Advertisements in local papers throughout 1874 stressed that at 17 South Salina, Alva Spencer sold a myriad of “novelties in neckwear” that included Windsor scarves and neckties, in addition to such accessories as silk square handkerchiefs, seasonal undergarments, and linens. His business uniquely provided laundry services for his customers, and regarding sales, Spencer promised to sell “the newest and most desirable goods at bottom prices.” In 1875, Alva Spencer planned to uproot his operations in Syracuse and open a new men’s apparel store in Toledo, Ohio. After Spencer moved to Ohio, it was relayed in the local press that Colonel E. L. Robinson purchased the lease and the stock of Spencer’s Clothing Company, and thereafter assumed possession of the store in April 1875. In 1876, W. A. Robinson, presumably of relation to the colonel, operated a men’s furnishing goods store at that location which was known as “Twenty White Globes,” in reference to the bulbs of light arranged to illuminate the commodities placed strategically in its display windows. “Twenty White Globes” held its grand opening on April 16, 1875, and this “mammoth emporium” sold hosiery, silk umbrellas, brushes, and perfumes in addition to shirts. In May 1876, Robinson formed a partnership with J. W. White, who managed the shirt department of Robinson’s store. In December 1877, Robinson and White, in acting as dealers in gentlemen’s furnishing goods, also shared the space at 15 and 17 South Salina St. with A. Ramsay’s Clothing House, until both properties were superseded by the A. W. Palmer and Company wholesale and retail clothing dealers. The A. W. Palmer and Company was managed by Alva W. Palmer, who was the brother of famous Syracuse clothier Manning C. Palmer. Alva Palmer joined his brother’s commercial partnership around 1860, and the M. C. Palmer and Company’s name was changed to A. W. Palmer and Company when Manning, in functioning as the senior partner, chose to “retire from the active business of the house,” as the Syracuse Journal documented. Subsequently, Alva Palmer moved his family enterprise that sold ready-made clothing on North Salina Street to 15 and 17 South Salina St. in 1877, and its sales and manufacturing departments occupied these new adjacent spaces. At the Lansing Building, Alva completed extensive remodeling to connect the two addresses on the first floor with adjoining archways, where beaver overcoats and business suits among other pre-assembled apparel were sold. The A. W. Palmer and Company far outlasted its predecessors in its longevity, as it remained at 15 and 17 South Salina St. for at least 20 years, even after this location’s address was renumbered as 121 and 123 South Salina. Alva Palmer’s company was accordingly renamed A. W. Palmer and Son, after his son, George C. Palmer, joined the establishment. With a clientele that was predominantly men and children, A. W. Palmer and Son was characterized in a Syracuse Journal article published on Nov. 14, 1896, as a “leading enterprise” in the tailoring and “handling of fine clothing.” This made them one of the best “clothing emporium[s]” of Syracuse and indicated that their superb service and craftsmanship in the garment industry was longstanding. As this examination of Syracuse’s clothiers of bygone years ranging from Fiske to Palmer illustrates, 17 South Salina St. functioned not only as a central hub of the garment industry, but also as an early catalyst that paved the way for the street’s transformation into the city’s central commercial district in the 20th century. With businesses such as Sibley’s and Dey Brothers thriving in the consciousness of modern Syracusans as classic apparel retailers, it’s no wonder that these department stores emerged on the same thoroughfare as preceding garment manufacturers, and continued the tradition of clothes shopping on Salina Street for successive generations.                              

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Maria Lore is a research associate at the Onondaga Historical Association (OHA), located at 321 Montgomery St. in Syracuse.