The Schwabacher Brothers, Louis Schwabacher (1837-1900), Abraham Schwabacher (1838-1909), and Sigmund (Sig) Schwabacher (1841-1917), were pioneering Bavarian-born Jewish merchants, important in the economic development of the Pacific Northwest. They owned several businesses bearing their family name, and opened an branch in Seattle in 1869. Within a short time, the firm became Puget Sound's major wholesaler of canned goods, dry goods, and other materials to the logging camps, mill towns, farming communities, and, after 1897, to departing Klondike gold miners.
This image of Schwabacher Bros. & Co. employees standing outside a wooden building may have been taken after the Great Fire of 1889 destroyed the 1872 Schwabacher building at Commercial Street (1st Avenue South) just south of Mill Street (Yesler Way). The nearby Schwabacher wharf was not damaged in the inferno so the business was able to reopen immediately in the wharf warehouse. That warehouse may be the building in this photo.
Caption information source: http://pcad.lib.washington.edu/building/4654 Caption information source: "The Schwabacher Family" by Jean Roth. Jewish Genealogical Society of Washington State website.
Physical Description: 1 photographic print mounted on cardboard : b&w ; 7.25 x 9.25 in.
Additional Information: Digital copy of this item available thanks to funding from a 2016 Institute for Museum and Library Services grant. Metadata updated as part of a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services administered by the Library Services and Technology Act, through the Washington State Library, a division of the Office of the Secretary of State.
Credit: MOHAI, 1981.7279.1, photo by Pierson and Co.
