Mabley & Carew
Encyclopedia
Mabley & Carew Department Store
was a prominent department store in Cincinnati, Ohio
.
The store traced its roots to 1877, when Detroit merchants C. R. Mabley
and Joseph T. Carew
, en route to Memphis
, were stranded in Cincinnati by a late train and wound up going into business in the heart of what was then a booming river city. Having missed their connection, they walked around town and reached Fountain Square, saw a "For Rent" sign, and decided that 66 Fifth Street was a fine place for a store. Mabley and Carew was the first store in Cincinnati to adopt full-page newspaper ads, to give elaborate Christmas performances, and to set up the Arbor Day custom. The Mabley and Carew building was once illuminated by 10,000 lights that glimmered opposite Fountain Square.
The company was owned by a joint partnership of Messrs Mabley and Carew but managed by Carew. After Mabley's death in 1885 Carew became sole owner of the business. Carew himself died in 1914 and was succeeded as Company President by his first cousin Bolton Stretch Armstrong (1872–1954) who ran the company for the next 37 years.
In 1929 the Carew Building, a nearby office block also built by Carew, was demolished and replaced by Cincinnati's landmark Carew Tower
, completed in 1930 after only 17 months work. This complex was to be the new home to the main Mabley & Carew department store from 1930 to 1960, when the business was purchased by Allied Stores
. By 1962 the company had moved the store across Fifth Street into what had been Rollman's Department Store, renamed the Mabley and Carew Building.
In 1978, Dayton, Ohio
based Elder-Beerman
department stores purchased Mabley & Carew. All 4 Cincinnati stores, including the Fifth and Vine Street location, were eventually converted to the Elder-Beerman name. The old Rollman's building was eventually closed and torn down in the late 1980s to make way for a proposed, but not ever built, new tallest building in Cincinnati, Fountain Square West.
Department store
A department store is a retail establishment which satisfies a wide range of the consumer's personal and residential durable goods product needs; and at the same time offering the consumer a choice of multiple merchandise lines, at variable price points, in all product categories...
was a prominent department store in Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
.
The store traced its roots to 1877, when Detroit merchants C. R. Mabley
C. R. Mabley
C.R.Mabley was the founder of a chain of department stores in the USA. He was known as "The Merchant Prince"Christopher Richards Mabley was born on Feb 22, 1836 in St. Minver, Cornwall, England to William and Mary née Richards Mably. His first wife, Catherine, bore him at least 8 children of whom...
and Joseph T. Carew
Joseph T. Carew
Joseph Thomas Carew was an American department store owner.Carew was born in Peterboro, Ontario on Jan 2, 1848, the elder son of Robert Shapland Carew and Euphemia Carew, a well-to-do Irish family working for the British government in Canada...
, en route to Memphis
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
, were stranded in Cincinnati by a late train and wound up going into business in the heart of what was then a booming river city. Having missed their connection, they walked around town and reached Fountain Square, saw a "For Rent" sign, and decided that 66 Fifth Street was a fine place for a store. Mabley and Carew was the first store in Cincinnati to adopt full-page newspaper ads, to give elaborate Christmas performances, and to set up the Arbor Day custom. The Mabley and Carew building was once illuminated by 10,000 lights that glimmered opposite Fountain Square.
The company was owned by a joint partnership of Messrs Mabley and Carew but managed by Carew. After Mabley's death in 1885 Carew became sole owner of the business. Carew himself died in 1914 and was succeeded as Company President by his first cousin Bolton Stretch Armstrong (1872–1954) who ran the company for the next 37 years.
In 1929 the Carew Building, a nearby office block also built by Carew, was demolished and replaced by Cincinnati's landmark Carew Tower
Carew Tower
Carew Tower is the second tallest building in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. However, it is still the highest elevated building in the city. The Great American Insurance building is only taller because of the basement. Completed in 1930, it stands 49 stories tall in the heart of downtown,...
, completed in 1930 after only 17 months work. This complex was to be the new home to the main Mabley & Carew department store from 1930 to 1960, when the business was purchased by Allied Stores
Allied Stores
Allied Stores was a department store chain in the United States. It was founded in the 1930s as part of a general consolidation in the retail sector by B. E. Puckett. See also Associated Dry Goods. It was the successor to Hahn's Department Stores, a holding company founded in 1928...
. By 1962 the company had moved the store across Fifth Street into what had been Rollman's Department Store, renamed the Mabley and Carew Building.
In 1978, Dayton, Ohio
Dayton, Ohio
Dayton is the 6th largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County, the fifth most populous county in the state. The population was 141,527 at the 2010 census. The Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 841,502 in the 2010 census...
based Elder-Beerman
Elder-Beerman
Elder-Beerman is a U.S. chain of department stores founded in 1883 and owned by The Bon-Ton. The chain is based primarily in the United States' Midwest region...
department stores purchased Mabley & Carew. All 4 Cincinnati stores, including the Fifth and Vine Street location, were eventually converted to the Elder-Beerman name. The old Rollman's building was eventually closed and torn down in the late 1980s to make way for a proposed, but not ever built, new tallest building in Cincinnati, Fountain Square West.