mosheim clothing store .. pottstown, pa 1882

well, isn't the internet interesting .. i recently received a message from someone on facebook (who remembered me from before 1956) informing me that someone on a pottstown, pennsylvania facebook page had mentioned or asked for information on the 'mosheim clothing store on high street'.  the person who sent me the message remembered me from a really long time ago, googled me, found me, and asked if i had any pictures.  well, we lived in pottstown until 1956, which, i believe was very shortly after the store closed.  i think my grandfather died in 1953, my uncle had already established his own clothing store in nearby pennsburgh, and my father was an electrical engineer, not a clothing salesman.  so that, as they say, was about it, and the store closed.  the image above was made by a friend of mine from a glass negative that somehow survived over 100 years.  that negative is  around here somewhere.  if you click and enlarge the image, you can see the trolley tracks, and in the lower right hand corner, the date, 1907.  pretty cool. and the actual image is quite crispy and more detailed than this picture of it that i took where it hangs in a poorly lit area by the pool table ..

the smaller image up in the corner is later, after the bank next door became more successful it appears.  the victorian stuff is toned down some in this image.  as mentioned below, the front of the store was remodeled in 1933, and in this photo, the trolley tracks are gone and are replaced by cars.

here follows a brief history from a mention in the pottstown mercury of 1937 .. samuel mosheim was my great grandfather and our son sam's namesake ...

" Mosheim Store Founded in 1882 Nine years after he landed on the shores of the United States following his emigration from Germany, the late Samuel Mosheim. one of the pioneer merchants of Pottstown, founded the present Mosheim Clothing company. He opened a store at 144 High street, in 1882, and the store became known as S. Mosheim Clothing store. In 1897 the founder moved to the present location, 207 High street. The business was conducted as a sole proprietorship until Mosheim’s retirement in 1921. Upon his retirement his sons, Maurice and Edward Mosheim, and William Shively and Walter Richards formed the Mosheim Clothing company. The founder died in January, 1930. In 1933 the store was enlarged. The rear was extended and the front rebuilt. The store throughout was remodeled. The past February the interior of the establishment was modernized. The store deals solely in men’s clothing, hats and furnishings."

my parents spent their final years in boyertown, close to pottstown, and we would often ride around pottstown and my parents would reminisce about the 45 years they spent there while i would try to remember stuff from my first 9 years.  the drawing and photo below is of the house we lived in at 320 york street, until we moved to norristown, which was 20 miles closer to center city philadelphia, where my father worked at united engineers and constructors, later a division of raytheon, the defense contractor.

the drawing below i made for my parents for christmas in 2004.  the photo below it that shows the mosheim clothing store, now the china pan, and our house on york street sometime i'm guessing in the late 90s.

and while i was on the pottstown facebook page, i noticed this post listing the projects for the pottstown location of bethlehem steel, projects my other grandfather likely drove some rivets into .. the plant was obviously a pretty big deal

John Bondola

here's a list of beth steel/Pottstown fabrications, after historical golden gate. road bridges for pa turnpike, new Madison sq. garden/grand central. local HS buildings, including Boyertown & downingtown. varrazano narrow's bridge, air vents for Lincoln and Holland tunnel, rfk stadium, ( first multi-purpose stadium). DC and NY subway structures, walt Whitman, twin bridge's, DE, (with US steel), and finally, the last job before closure, in 76/77, blast furnace casings for sparrows point plant, which was secured for naval contracts.