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	Record Group Number:	900000
	Series/Collection Number:	M82- 65
	Creator:	Cohen, Halle, 1893-1956
	Title, Dates:	Cohen Brothers Department Store photographs, 1880-1932.
	Amount:	3 photographs
	Medium Included:	photograph 8" x 10"
	Organization/Arrangement:	Unarranged.
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	Biographical/Historical:	On October 21, 1912, brothers Morris and Jacob Cohen opened the Cohen Brothers Department Store in Jacksonville, Florida. Architect Henry Klutho designed the six acres of retail space, and the people of Jacksonville referred to it as "the Big Store" because it was the largest store in the city. Their brother Samuel Cohen had opened a smaller store in 1866; it was twenty feet by twenty feet and employed a small staff that included Black employees. This first store moved and expanded twice before Morris and Jacob bought the space where the St. James Hotel had stood until the Great Fire of 1901 destroyed it. The Cohen brothers wanted to build a conventional two-story department store, but Klutho envisioned instead a richly decorated, four-story, commercial and office complex and the Cohens agreed. Klutho finished the project in eighteen months. The large store made a big impact on the city's downtown area. It prompted the installation of streetlights and sidewalks, and it inspired a transformation of nearby Hemming Park. City bus routes changed to stop in front of the store, and on Blue Ribbon Sale days bus rides were free. The store even had a baseball team that played the New York Yankees. It also had a parrot trainer, a hat maker, a lending library, and a hair salon.
	Summary:	This collection contains three black and white photographs of the Cohen Brothers Department Store in Jacksonville, Florida. Images depict the front exterior of the original store built in 1866 with the entire store staff standing in front of the entrance. Another photograph depicts the exterior of the St. James Hotel with horse drawn carriages. The third photograph, taken in 1932, shows the exterior of the Cohen Brothers Department Store and includes images of cars lined up around the corner of the building.
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	Additional Physical Form:	Images in this collection have been digitized and are available on the Florida Memory web site: https://www.floridamemory.com/discover/photographs/
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	General Note:	Florida Photographic Collection Number P1982-65.
	Electronic Records Access:	https://www.floridamemory.com/discover/photographs/
	Subject Access Fields:	Cohen Brothers Department Store (Jacksonville, Fla.) Hotels Florida Stores, Retail Florida Photographs. aat Jacksonville (Fla.)
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