In 1875 Polish immigrants Ferdinand Toklas (1845-1924) and Paul Singerman (1847-1915) opened a retail business in Seattle which soon became the city's first department store. Toklas & Singerman, also referred to for a time as The San Francisco Store, was originally located at Cherry and Front Street (later called 1st Avenue). The store moved and expanded multiple times and was an early adopter of new technologies and modern amenities such as phone service, electric lights, and elevators. The grand Toklas, Singerman & Co store at Front and Columbia burned in the Great Seattle Fire of 1889 but was rebuilt within a year. In 1892 the founders sold the store to another partner, John B. MacDougall (1849-1931), who incorporated it as MacDougall & Southwick Co. The popular store at Second Avenue and Pike Street was operated by Mercantile Store Corp. from 1910 until it closed in 1966.

This photo shows several models in the store's fashions around 1924.

Handwritten on sleeve: McDougal [sic] and Southwick Fashions - Olive Leonard, Berniece DuPonte, Polly Perkins, Nancy Emory.
Webster & Stevens number: 110988