Evening star., 1935-02-04
'STORE WILL MARK
18TH ANNIVERSARY
Lansburgh & Bro. Started
in Small Space Here
in 1860.


be observed tomorrow.
And back Of this period of uninter-
upted success lies a story, and an in
tereSting one, too.
In 1860 two young men, GuStave
and James Lansburgh, came to Wash
ington from Baltimore and opened a
little store on Seventh street between
K and L. One of them, Gustave
Lansburgh, but lately had removed
from Hamburg, Germany, with his
family. The other, his brother James,
had been a store clerk in Baltimore.
From that modest beginning has
grown the department store Of today.
Stock Hung on Nails.
The store of 1860 was about 80 feet
long and 25 feet wide Its few counters
they filled with general dry goods and
notions. An old photograph shows
that about half the stock was hung
on nails and lines on the outside of
the store front-blankets, calicoes,
yard goods and a few pairs Of
SuSpenders.
In that store Gus and James were
everything. They bought the stock,
marked it, displayed it. sold it (and
they knew practically all of their Gus
toners by name) and often deliv-
cred it.
In the late 1870S the contents of the
little store were carted into roomier
quarters at 406-10 Seventh street.
1t had been announced in the papers
in one of those quaint triple repetition
of words advertisements that there
was to be a grand opening at o'clock
in the evening. But when the brothers
looked at the crowd outside the store
a few minutes before 8, the always
more cautious James advised that
they postpone the opening until the
following morning. Then they pre-
Sented the first woman over the
threshold with a new silk dress for
luck.
In 1873 there came to work at
Lansburghs a young cash boy, aged
II. Gus kept an eye on the youngster
as he worked At the end of the first
week this youngster was ready to fall
through the floor" when Gus told him,
Il am going to make you cashier"
That boy was Frank Major. Today, 81
years later, he is still cashier, LanS-
burgh's Oldest employe.
Bought in Grand Manner.
When either James or Gus went
a-buying they did it in the grand
manner. They bought in quantities
unheard of at the time, thus enabling
themselves to get the advantage of
lower prices. Already Gus had ma
tional reputation as silk buyer, and
Lansburgh's store had a large stock
of silk. 1t had been Gus habit to go
off by himself on an occasional buying
spree. saying nothing to any one about
it until boxes and bales began to pour
into the cellars of the store. Once, on
one of these occasions, Gus bought
buttons.
He bought a ton of them. Thou
sands of these buttons became loosened
from their cards. They presented a
problem for James dismay and an
noyance.
But Gus had an idea. He ordered
the remainder of the buttons stripped
from their cards. Then he had his
carpenters build a huge bin. Into the
bin he shoveled the buttons.
He announced a sale on buttons
your own choice, cents quart.
It was a bonanza. Women from all
parts of the city flocked to the store
to r,ick throlloh the hin
There was a big department store
fire in Baltimore. While the yards
and bolts of material were still smok-
ing and after they were soaking wet
from the firemens hose, GustaVe
bought them all Back to Washing
ton with the dripping lot he came,
advertised, and the special sale
worked its magic.
Store Expanded.
The store was growing in the
meantime, and they had moved sue
cessively to 42O-424 Seventh street,
then acquired 426 in 1892, 428-3O by
1911. From one telephone in the
central Office and one elevator, they
had gone to two, three. From one
floor, they had expanded to six, by
1916. They had added departments.
now. and more clerks. From the
cashboy and central cage system of
making change, they had gone
through the successive stages of ropes
and baskets, cables and cash boxes,
tubes, and finally, to the cash-register
system.
Now they had a hospital, lunch
room, and recreation room for their
clerks, besides a regular training
school for them. Max HirSch, who
had come as a stock room boy to
open boxes, now became head silk
buyer
Adolph Weyl, who came to Lans:-
burgh's in 1892 as private secretary.
to the brothers, had become treasurer
of the firm.
Gustave had died in 1911. James
was to die in 1917, six years yet be-
fore the present store building was
erected, with its 100000 square feet
of floor space, compared to the 800
of the first location.
A second generation had come in:
Sol, son of Gus, was president of the
firm. Mark was James son. Now,
in latter day, there were so buyers
for the 100 departments and 1000 en-
ploys on the pay rolls Even third
generation was entering the store. five
young grandsons of the founder, Gus
tave.
Battle of Bustles.
Everything is new. Only Major, the
cashier, remains of the old memories.
and he is full of them. His best story
of the house of Lansburg is that which
might we'll be named the battle of the
bustles.
Things having quieted down a bit
after the run on the button bin, Gus
grew weary of inaction and diSap-
peared on one of his periodical buy
ing sprees. In few days he re-
turned, smiling whimsically.
A day or so later big packing cases
began to come into the Lansburgh
basement.
The next morning one huge counter
was draped with a wide-spreading
cover.
Gus had inserted a last-minute
Special ad in the paper.
Then the doors were thrown 0nen