Subterranean Portals To Retro Boston’s Best Shopping Spots Of Days Gone By

 Hello, My Retro Boston Loving Friends!


My work as a retro Boston cultural historian is never dull...never!



 I get many requests for updates and I try to fulfil each and every one...although I may take months or possibly even years to get all my research done on some of the more complex missions.



Today we look at another department store convenience provided by a few of our larger retro Boston stores...underground subway access!













As Boston’s historic subway system began to grow and develop, the new blossoming subway lines now known as the Orange and Red Lines crossed right in the very heart of our once thriving shopping center at Washington, Summer and Winter Streets.

The Washington Street Line (The Orange Line) was the first to arrive underground and with it came two unaligned platform subway stations (known then as Winter and Summer...classic Boston!) in 1908. Filene’s was located on the diagonally opposite corner from where the empty store shell sits today and was quick off the mark to use the new subway as a way to get shoppers inside their welcoming doors.

A new subterranean entrance slightly up from Washington Street underneath Winter Street along what would now be the concourse area was opened the same year as the new subway line. This new way to enter Filene’s became an instant hit with shopping crowds and print ads proudly exclaimed that you get inside the store without even stepping outside on rainy days. One wonders how folks got to the trains in the first place...hmmm?...but let’s not get too picky!

Filene’s remained the only Boston store with subterranean access for a while. The great move across the street to the exciting new Burnham Building in 1912 meant a new basement entrance was constructed for the new store on the opposite platform of the Washington Street Line.

In 1915, the new and growing Dorchester-Cambridge Line (The Red Line) further expanded and with it came a station under Summer Street called Washington. Filene’s soon opened yet another subterranean access point to make their store even more easily entered from either subway line.

 

All this easy underground access began to worry the competition. Filene’s did not have to wait long before the new Bacon Company Store just up Washington Street at Essex Street (formerly the Henry Siegel Company) opened a new entrance to their basement right onto the platform of Essex Station of the Washington Street Line. The new entrance of Bacon’s caused much flattering publicity and the store used it as an advertising device in many of their print ads...but alas, the store failed within a few short years...subway access was not enough! More soon on Bacon’s and Siegel’s in a future blog update!!



Filene’s continued to enjoy supreme success in the underground access sector for many years to come. Readers have asked me why Gilchrist’s, Raymond’s, White’s and Jordan Marsh were so slow to catch on to this underground entrance fad.

Some thoughts on this:

Gilchrist’s was located on the wrong corner for easy subway platform access. The Washington Street Line tunnel was in front of the store rather than a platform and they were using a large section of the concourse area under Winter Street as a bargain basement selling and sorting area. Could they have made an entrance into the concourse area? Maybe, but they never did make it a priority.

Raymond’s did have a subway street level entrance to Summer Street Station located on its Franklin Street side...but that is as far as it went with them.

White’s was not close enough to either Essex Street Station or Summer Street Station...only dark tunnel lay underground in front of the former legendary retailing giant.

Now we come to Jordan Marsh. The Jordan Marsh Company...ever growing and consuming all the stores in the block it occupied. It was slow to get on the bandwagon of underground access portals...it finally succeeded and built a direct subway access point from under the old Shuman Building on the corner of Washington and Summer Streets into the concourse area beneath Summer Street in 1930. The 1920’s marked the first time Jordan Marsh really had any decent access to the growing subway infrastructure beneath its feet. The acquisition of the former Shuman Store structure meant Jordan Marsh could finally create a new underground access point that rivalled Filene’s across the street.

The new direct subway entrance was opened with much press fanfare and Jordan Marsh could now use this new “shopper’s convenience” in its print ads just as competitor Filene’s had been doing effectively since 1908.

In 1976, as Jordan Marsh tragically demolished their old Main Store, the classic Shuman Building coming down as well and with it...the classic 1930’s subway entrance was lost forever. Jordan Marsh did have another subway access point on the Red Line Washington Street Station platform that opened with the new sub-basement of the mammoth 1948-57 building expansion project. This was the only direct subway entrance to Jordan Marsh during the building works of the late 1970’s. When these works finally finished, a new less exciting entrance opened in place of the former one underneath the now completed and sadly dull, brand new Jordan Marsh building.

Please enjoy this look back at these various underground entrances and see how the stores used them as a way to bring in those much desired shopping throngs.

Big thanks to TheMBTADog for more wonderful photos that show the former Filene’s and present Macy’s subway entrances as they look today in 2012.

Enjoy....Charles:-)





FYI: Michael Lisicky will be giving a Filene’s presentation at Old South Meeting House on July 24.

If you are in Boston this summer, it’s a must for all retro Boston lovers!!!



charles65ofboston@yahoo.com



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Ps...Don't forget....I am still working on my Jordan Marsh Memory Project. Write me!!!!

Great New Filene’s Book Is Here!

Hello, My Fellow Retro Boston Lovers!

Ever since I began my blog back in January 2008, I have had the wonderful privilege and thrill of getting to know some great authors in the field of retail history.

Michael Lisicky is one such person and he has been so supportive of my retro Boston blog over the last several years. I am proud to announce that his latest, possibly greatest (I am biased in a HUGE way) book is here:

 Filene’s – Boston’s Great Specialty Store

I have had the chance to preview a copy before it officially debuts on May 21st and I can’t begin to tell you how much I enjoyed it!! The book is packed with historic images that will take you down memory lane in no time flat and his well crafted treatment of Filene’s history gets an A+ from this retired teacher!
Michael has done his homework and Boston has a brand new book to fall in love with.


Michael is no stranger to writing books about our great American department stores of the past. His most recent book on New York’s famed Gimbels was released this past year with much well deserved applause. The book on Filene's will be his fourth publication so far...wow!

I encourage my blog readers to get a copy of this great collector’s item. It will make a perfect gift for you or someone you love who misses the once great Boston shopping paradise known as Filene’s.

The link for Amazon is:
http://www.amazon.com/Filenes-Bostons-Specialty-Images-America/dp/0738591580/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1336912866&sr=1-1

Also if you are in Boston this summer...mark the date of August 23. Michael will be giving a lecture on Filene’s at the Boston Public Library. It’s a great opportunity to hear a witty and informative speaker who is passionate about retail history.

I must add that Michael continually encourages, supports and nudges me to carry on with my Jordan Marsh Memory Project and this new book of his acts as a wonderful inspiration...so please keep sending me those precious Jordan Marsh memories; we have a project to finish!!!


Well done, Michael....Bravo! Your new book is a treasure!    

Charles:-)

Ups And Downs in Retro Boston

Hello, My Fellow Retro Boston Lovers!

Let me start by saying that today’s update is NOT about business trends and financial matters!

I could have called this update by many witty titles...but it really tired my brain to try to be so clever!

The update today is all about (a concise “all about”, mind you) the art and style of in-store travel within our beloved stores of Boston’s rich retailing past.

A discussion and sharing of memories about elevators in the various Boston stores came up a few weeks ago on the Facebook feeder page to this blog and this inspired me to delve into the world of travelling conveniences provided by the stores of yesteryear.

A tiny bit of building history is in order now. Pencils ready!!!

The large retail stores of Boston were mostly started as smaller retail businesses in little old buildings with only a few floors above the street level....if any.
After the GREAT FIRE of 1872, many retailers migrated into what we now call...Downtown Crossing and began building larger, multi-floored establishments..... “retail houses” as they were often called back then. These mercantile establishments grew and prospered....thus creating the wonderful department stores of the Boston we all knew and loved.

The upward move after 1872 to build five or more selling floors created some issues. How do we get the customers (think back to those gowns the ladies wore in the late 1800’s) up to the various floors with ease and comfort?



The stairs were fine...to a point....very few merchants wanted the women folk walking up more than one or two sets of stairs at most. The passenger elevator had been perfected as “safe” in the mid- 1800’s but they were not very common in Boston until after the fire of 1872. Stores installed these early hydraulic and steam driven elevators as soon as the new buildings went up. They were faster than stairs and if controlled by a careful operator, they provided a safe and smooth ride up and down.
The stores in Boston, as you will soon see, rushed to provide the latest elevators with increasing speeds and perfect comfort...and sheer numbers in operation per store. The move in the late 1800’s to electric powered motors gave way to even speedier trips between the sales floors.

At the turn of the century another new, rather scary, device came along....the escalator or moving stairs or electric stairs as they were referred to at various times in the 20th century. This new “toy” caused much fear and confusion. So much so that instructions on safe ridership needed to be given as these new fangled machines became part of the standard fare found in most of the bigger stores in our city and in the "new" MTA.

Some stores eventually gave way to the new, ultra- modern phase....those utilitarian machines known as “automatic elevators” from the 1950’s onward.

I now provide a selection of stores of old and a few facts and memories about how they each introduced safe, stylish and speedy travel within their great walls. Enjoy these...they were so much fun to research!

Jordan Marsh:
The old Main Store of Jordan Marsh on the corner of Washington and Avon Streets had elevators installed in the later part of the 1800’s. These were located originally in the center of the store and were considered slow by the changing technologies of the 1890’s. Newer, faster ones were installed during the 1890’s in several banks...one set near Avon Street and the other closer to Summer. These ran from basement to the upper floors with greater speed and comfort. The store also boasted a “Grand Staircase” of ornamental iron from the mid-1890’s....but it was more ornamental than functional for customers who wanted to get from the street floor to the fourth in record time. By 1898, Jordan Marsh had eleven elevator cars running in just the Main Store alone...the Annex had not been added yet. During the early part of the 1900’s, Jordan’s added the Annex on the other side of Avon Street and it also had many (about 13) elevators whisking you from basement to the ninth floor in no time at all. Jordan Marsh was slow to join the trend of installing escalators into its buildings. Most of the bigger stores of the day had them but Jordan’s was slow to put faith in them. Safety issues plagued these devices...and many customers feared them. Jordan Marsh bit the bullet in the late 1930’s and finally installed nearly a full set of “electric stairs” in the Annex. These went from the basement to the fifth floor. These were very modern (for the late 1930’s) electric stairs because they were reversible...all up...at opening times....all down...for closing and a mix of ups and downs in between times! The electric stairs in the Annex were memorable for a few reasons...they were slightly off -kilter on some floors and you had to walk a bit to get from one set to another AND they were plagued with accidents involving children because of the fact Jordan’s famed TOYLAND was on the fifth floor of the Annex and a delightful stopping point for many a child visitor. In the late 1950’s, Jordan Marsh even offered an “Ups and Downs” course for children on safe escalator use....this was hosted in the Peabody store. The great building project of 1949 to 1957 saw Jordan Marsh grow and consume the rest of the Summer Street block with a huge new building made up of three joined units. This modern building had large, cockpit style controlled elevators and speedy escalators from top to bottom...they were lined up properly, by the way. The cockpit style elevator provided a little raised area in the corner for the operator to stand and work the mechanisms. Jordan Marsh maintained elevator operators in most of its many buildings until the closure of the Annex in 1978. Automatic elevators took over in the rebuilt parts of the store from this stage onward. Gone were the gloved women in uniforms who met you with a smile as you entered the ornamental sliding doors of each elevator in the old Main Store and the Annex. The cockpit elevators in the 1949 section of the new building were converted to automatic at some stage by the 1970’s. One lasting memory for me of the “old” Jordan Marsh is the way the elevators zipped up and down as I stood waiting for my mother to look at the various counters of the street floor in the old Main Store. You could see inside the shafts through the attractive metal and glass doorways and watch as the cars went up and down....as a young child this view held my attention for ages. I can tell you now...they did “zip”...for old operator based elevators they did give you a exciting jolt as you sped up and swooped down. A treat for the youth of Boston...now just a treasured memory for some of us lucky enough to be just that little bit older.




Filene’s :
Filene’s boasted an early escalator as well as elevators in the old buildings on Washington Street on the opposite corner from the 1912 Burnham masterpiece. The 1912 move to the purpose built Burnham Building brought a host of fast, smooth elevator cars and an escalator from the street floor to the second. Filene’s Basement offered no elevator or escalator service as part of its cost saving theme until the early 1970’s when the escalator finally descended downward to the great bargain bazaar. A full set of escalators was installed from street floor to top in the early 1950’s and the first automatic elevators marched in 1958.



R.H. White’s:
White’s was always ahead of its time. The new building it had built in the 1870’s was a trend setter for department stores of the day. The early installation of the “Jumbo” elevator in the late 1800’s served as a major step UP. It could safely transport about 50 passengers in each trip...no other store of the day boasted such a device. The “Jumbo” was in use for a good number of years before being retired. White’s also was the first Boston store to use a “moving stairway” from street floor to second in the very early days of the 1900’s. It was a real crowd pleaser and many came to just to watch...it was a true novelty for the next few years until other stores provided the service as well as the up and coming MTA. White’s did provide training on how to ride it safely....many early patrons wanted to sit on it as they thought it would be safer that way. In the 1940’s, modern escalators were installed from street floor to fifth....White’s needed to keep up with Jordan Marsh next-door who just added new escalators to the Annex. When Raymond’s moved in 1966 and took over the building...they finally had an escalator (a high speed one, too) and were thrilled to have moved up in the retailing world.


Gilchrist’s:
The company did have elevators in the buildings prior to the large new building of 1912...when the new building opened, keeping up with Filene’s opposite them, they boasted new improved in-store travel service and a greater number of cars than previously offered. The new building did soar up ten floors and numerous, quick elevators were a BIG must for happy customers. The store never had the space or desire for an escalator service....but they did begin to introduce new, high-speed automatic elevators in the very early days of the 1960’s. The gloved operators were gone by the end of that decade....sadly!


Please enjoy these various advertisement, articles and photos from many stores of our retro Boston as they show–off various travelling technologies to a more than eager public.

Charles:-)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/24334155@N03/

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Ps...Don't forget....I am still working on my Jordan Marsh memory project. Write me!!!!