St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-05-14
A Merchant Tells Why the
General Exodus Made It's
Appearance.
Buildings of the Last Century
Will Not Do for This
Period.
Owners in That Vicinity ff.
sist That Third Street Is
in the Ring.

Deen topic or quite general comment
| for some time past, in fact, ever since
| Field, Mailer & Co. removed their large
| dry goods house from that street. The
| condition of Third street was again de-
bated vigorously when Sehuneman &
| Evans also removed to Wabasha street.
About that time vigorous effort was
! made to persuade the owners OF prop
erty on this once popular street that 1t
was necessary for the interests of the
street as well as themselves to tear
| dom the blocks of thirty-year=Old
buildings that now disgrace the street,
and erect in their places new, como
| dious and modern structures to meet
the wants Of the merchants, who would
| like to remain on the street. This effort
| failed, and for time the situation was
not discussed by the general public.
| The announcement made day or two
| ago that the old and popular dry goods
| house of Mannheimer Bros. will i'll
| the near future remove to Sixth street
stirred up the matter again, and this
| time the property owners have mani
| tested considerable interest in the mat
| ter.
Ehe removal of the Manufacturers
was not expected, the fact that some
| eleven years ago they erected; mag
nificent building, with all facilities and
accommodations for their business.
| being considered as certain TO Keep
| them on Third street. But even
| this was not sufficient. The causes
which have led to this step on their part
must however, be apparent to every
one who has paid any attention to what
| has been going on in the business life
of the city. Every large city has great
retail street. and all the houses located
upon it profit by the reputation of the
street. Up to four or five years ago
| Third street had this reputation. On it
were the principal dry goods stores, the
leading carpet and shoe houses, as well
as jewelry stores and other branches OF
retail trade. For several reasons during
| the last few years great change has
| taken place. Many of the old Third
street merchants went to Seventh street,
| others to Jackson, and some to Waba-
sha. Several of these were asked their
reasons for their change of location, and
as rule stated one or the other and
sometimes both of the following:
First-To secure suitable accommodations.
Second-To secure lower rent
When one large retail house leaves a
street like Third others are likely to
| follow, 1t being almost necessary that
| these houses be close together. 10
show how the business houSer are scat
tered in St. Paul it is only necessary to
| call up few of the leading houses. AT
the present time Jackson street has car
pet and furniture stores, Sixth street
has a carpet house and WabaSha street
has more of these than Third street.
One of the most careful observers OF
what is going on in business circles was
asked yesterday his opinion of the
Third street situation. ~,
The owners of property along that
street," he said, ''are themselves en-
tirely. to, .blame. Some OF them
purchased theiIr property when. lots
they have held on ever SINCE
Their returns in the way of rents
have been enormous. and on this
account theyfelt satisfied toalOw things
to stand still as far as improvements
were concerned. An example OF their
determination to neither sell nor I'M
prove was given when Field, Mailer 81
Co. attempted to secure proper accom-
mOdationS OIL. Third street before they
removed to their present quarters. l
understand they could not buy the To-
catiCn they desired, nor induce the
property owners to erect building
suited TO their trade. Lot owners on
other streets saw their opportunity.
and by offering good buildings at
reasonable rents secured many OF the
Third street merchants. This thing has
come about gradually, and this talk OF
the newspapers crying down Ihlrd
street and running it is absurd. News
peppers can neither make nor unmake a
street. Third street is filed with old
buildings not suited to the siZe.or trade
of metropolis. They might have been
ali right thirty years ago, but they are
not I'D to the demands of the present.
The plaintiVe waits OF some of the prop
erty owners now at the result OF years
niggardlineSs reminds one of. the story
of the farmer whose land was poor, and
as result his corn would not grow.
He went out and commenced to pray
for rain. Another farmer came along
and, seeing him engaged III prayer,
said: 49,. 49,:
L.. 'Neighbor, your praying will do NO
good. 1t is manure and not rain that
you need
And this is the situation on Third
street. 1t needs manure Ill the shape OF
new, modern and cOmmodiouS buildings
and no amount of praying CT of silence
on the part of the papers or the people
1t has now been eleven years since
the Manufacturers erected their build
ing, and in all this time not half-doZen
new buildings have been erected and
comparatively few Improvements
Oh others nave been made. Had
the owners of property generally
followed the example set by the Mann
heimers things would now be different.
and, on account OF the convenient loca-
ton of the street, it would today be the
center of the retail trade and have all
the leading houses. The talk that any
bonus could induce the Manufacturers to
remove from their building erected at
a cost OF $500, 600 and splendIdly adapted
to their needs is absurd. Their removal
is purely a business move. They could
not afford 70 remain on Third street
with all their competitors located in
more advantageous quarters elsewhere
surrounded by stores of all kinds.
But the Third street property
owners would not listen to any one who
suggested new buildings or improve
ments. Only last year a prominent
merchant spent nearly two months i'll
trying to enlist the owners of the best
property in move To stop the exodus
from the street. The result of this
work was summarized by this gentle
man as follows:
1.-The first man | called on" lie said,
told ME that his store was good enough
for any street in any city. The second
one said that he did not have the money
which TO improve. The next one would
improve if the others did, and another
told NE that he would allow the others
to go ahead and improve. Some of the
heavy owners were willing and anxious
tc join in general movement to i'm
prove the street, but the old fogies were
too numerous, and the Mannheimer
removal is the result of this failure"
English Underwear, THE BoSToN,
Third street.