Hahne & Company

Julius Hahne was a pocketbook maker from Germany who opened a toy store in Newark in 1858; the shop was on the corner of Broad St. and Central Avenue. He gradually began adding other commercial goods to his store, across from Military Park, and departmentalized his offerings by the 1870s; he was the first in Newark to do so. Hahne also offered free store deliveries. Hahne died in 1895; his sons were behind the building of the new, larger store in 1901 at the corner of Broad and New Streets. The Hahne brothers - Richard, Albert J. and August - had married Hahne employees. Their brother-in-law, William H Kellner, also was a partner in the company.

One of the mottos of Hahne & Company was this, in 1911: "The Most Industrious Store in Newark - the City of Industry." A 1914 motto was "New Jersey's Greatest Store." So why would someone want to shop at Hahne & Company's flagship, also known as "Newark's Store Beautiful"? A 1906 newspaper ad gave seven "good reasons": stocks are enormous, as complete as in the best of New York City stores; styles of goods and services are strictly up-to-date; time is saved by making many purchases under one roof; money is saved by the deals obtained for the large quantity of merchandise bought to stock the store; conveniences and comfort with the store's perfect ventilation, broad, light airy aisles, and ten large elevators; safety in shopping with ease of returning goods and due to the building being fireproof; and local pride. A 1905 newspaper ad touted the company's twelve-acre Newark store and promised that all mail orders would be promptly filled. The store incorporated other draws for shoppers, and ways to keep them in the store longer: a nursery and merry-go-round to keep children occupied, an amusement hall and art gallery, a men's smoking room, a restaurant, a soda fountain that could hold 60 patrons, an escalator ("moving staircase"), and fireproof construction.

Why would someone want to work at Hahne & Company? Being a store salesperson was one of the few occupations where women had an advantage over men; women preferred having other women to deal with. The new store took 1,200 employees to staff the huge building, lus its own engineering department. Early in 1914, the head of the company began paying their store employees a percentage of their sales on top of their salary. A few days before Christmas of that year, the company sent out notices of salary increases to one-fourth of the employees.

The abandoned building was documented for National register listing in 1993-1994. The four-story building's main facade was 13 bays wide, of brick and stone; the building was trapezoidal in plan and covered about 2.3 acres. Vandals had gained access to the interior of the building and it had been torn apart for its copper and brass pipes and other metal machinery parts. Parts of the grand staircase and grand court skylight remained intact. The building was found to be significant for being associated with the oldest department store in Newark and as the first commercial building in Newark designed to be a department store.

Hahne & Company. "7 Good Reasons Why You Should Shop at Hahne & Company's Newark Store Beautiful." Perth Amboy Evening News (Perth Amboy, NJ) January 24th 1906. Last ed, 3-3.

Hahne & Company. "Hahne & Company Workers Receive Generous Increase." Perth Amboy Evening News (Perth Amboy, NJ) December 22nd 1914. Last ed, 2-2.

Zakalak, Ulana. NRHP nomination for Hahne and Company Department Store, Newark. National Register. Washington, DC. National Park Service, 1994.