The Schwabacher Brothers, Louis (1837-1900), Abraham (1838-1909), and Sigmund (Sig) (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 store 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.
In 1938, Schwabacher Brothers participated in Seattle's summertime Potlatch Parade. Here, a cedar-decorated horse-drawn float wagon carrying cases of the Schwabacher’s popular Gold Seal Coffee, waits on Blanchard Street in front of the Windham Apartments. The sign on top advertises the company as Seattle’s oldest business house and celebrates the 1897 arrival of Klondike gold at Schwabacher’s Wharf.
Signs in image: Otis; Schwabacher Bros. & Co., Inc.; Windham.
Caption information source: "The Schwabacher Family" by Jean Roth at http://www.jgsws.org/schwabacher.php Caption information source: The Seattle Daily Times, July 30, 1938.
ID Number: 2015.30.3
Date: 1938
Physical Description: 1 photographic print mounted on cardboard : b&w ; 9.25 x 7.25 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.
