Marketplace

Affectionately called "Woodies" by loyal Washingtonians, the beloved department store Woodward & Lothrop stood at the heart of downtown for over a century.

Crowds flocked to the flagship store on the F Street shopping corridor to find better service and the season's fashions. The store and its employees shared in the best moments in the lives of Washingtonians, from the elaborate holiday window displays to the Wedding Service department that helped countless brides choose their china patterns. For weary shoppers, the Bake Shop and seventh-floor Tea Room offered city favorites such as Wellesley Fudge Cupcakes and Chicken Pot Pie. Department store historian Michael J. Lisicky brings readers back to the store's golden age, chronicling the enterprise that made it a retail giant and the missteps that brought the store to its much lamented closing in 1995. Through interviews with store insiders, vintage images and a selection of recipes, Lisicky reveals the magic and the memories behind Woodward & Lothrop. With an introduction by Tim Gunn, American fashion icon and television personality.

The most respected of firearm companies, Smith & Wesson explores the guns and company history from 1852 to to 1965. Rarely seen historical photographs, advertisements, and company documents culled from the company archives, museums collections, and the private collections of Smith & Wesson collectors make this a must for every gun collector and admirer.

Horace Smith and Daniel Baird Wesson shared a dream of manufacturing a firearm that could fire repeatedly, using a new and self-contained cartridge. In 1852, the dream became a reality with the founding of Smith & Wesson Firearms Company. Over the next 154 years, the company grew to be one of the most innovative and respected firearms manufacturers in the world. The story of Smith & Wesson is not only about two knowledgeable and enterprising men but also the story of generations of creative and dedicated men and women. The spirit of innovation generated by the partners has long outlived them. Today Smith & Wesson is synonymous with quality, performance, and durability. Smith & Wesson explores the company history, its people, and significant products from the partners' first venture in 1852 to the sale of the Wesson family business in 1965. This book features rarely seen historical photographs, advertisements, and company documents culled from the company archives, museums collections, and the private collections of Smith & Wesson collectors.

IBM is heir to all the ideas for innovative ciphering machines of the past.

From granite blocks used to tell time, to beads used for accounting purposes, to punch cards, to computer chips as small as a raindrop, all are the historical roots of this corporate legend. IBM began with a small group of visionaries whose first factory was in a dismal garret in Binghamton, New York. By the time the Bundy Manufacturing Company relocated to Endicott, New York, it was part of the greatest industrial revolution in the world: the birth of computing technology. IBM in Endicott illustrates the development of a corporation and the people and ideas that made IBM a household word. With the city of Endicott at the epicenter of progress, IBM grew from a small company named Bundy Manufacturing, incorporated in 1889, to the company known as International Business Machines. Pictured are just a few of the notable moments during some of the golden years of Big Blue.

Catering to all the folks

In business for more than a century, Kewpee is the second oldest hamburger chain in the United States. Beginning with the Kewpee Hotel in Flint, Michigan, founder Samuel “Old Man Kewpee” Blair soon opened his original hamburger stand. That location served the world’s first deluxe hamburger, crafted from fresh, never-frozen beef and topped with tomatoes, lettuce and mayo. By licensing the Kewpee name, Blair and Ohio Kewpee Hotel operator Edwin Adams expanded into a chain of hundreds of hamburger stands and restaurants, mainly in the Midwest. A small number of Kewpee locations survived competition and still serve Olive Burgers, fries, malts and pie to lucky customers.

Author Gary Flinn tells the full story of Kewpee, its many locations long gone and its spinoff, Halo Burger.

At its height, Cleveland was a center of industry. Nearly a million people called the city home, and all of them needed various assortments of goods, wares and sundries. To serve their desires, fabulous stores once graced the city. The names alone - Higbee's, Halle's, May Company, Taylor Son & Company, Sterling Linder and Bailey's - conjure a comforting memory of sophisticated style and lost glamour. At the heart of this consumer paradise stood Euclid Avenue, Cleveland's golden façade. With its dynamic retail stores, homes to countless millionaires, and elevated air, it was one of a trio of famous American retail promenades alongside New York's Fifth Avenue and State Street in Chicago.

Author of Lost Cleveland and Lost Grand Hotels of Cleveland, Mike DeAloia offers an illuminating chronicle of the city's golden age of prestige and elegance.

The most trusted and prominent knife makers in the US, the history and background of W.R. Case & Sons is examined here with personal stories and photographs

In 1905, John Russell ""Russ"" Case brought the fledgling W. R. Case & Sons Company to Bradford, and it dominated the knife industry for the next century. From kitchen, hunting, and pocket knives to the V-42 Stiletto carried by U.S. Army soldiers in World War II, Case knives have been not only a tool but also a trusted companion for generations. Still handcrafted in Bradford, Case knives are the most collected knives in the world. W. R. Case & Sons Cutlery Company contains photographs of Russ Case and his family, the factory, special knives, Case collector events, and even the Case car. Rare finds from the Case archives, employees, and family members help chronicle the company's incredible history.

For more than 50 years, there was no more iconic Florida tourist attraction than Silver Springs.

Its sheer popularity meant that the surrounding area--indeed, the entirety of Marion County--serviced the entertainment, gas, food, and lodging needs of millions of tourists annually. Visitors flocked to places like Ross Allen's Reptile Institute, Tommy Bartlett's Deer Ranch, and natural attractions like Rainbow Springs and Ocala Caverns. Sadly, as Florida tourism moved into the theme park era, scores of smaller attractions and their related businesses were abandoned. Author Tim Hollis revisits these once-thriving tourist spots and what happened when those tourists stopped coming.

Enjoy a cool book on a hot day about America's Oldest Brewery, Yuengling.

D. G. Yuengling & Son of Pottsville has been in continuous operation since 1829, and since its start, Yuengling has been prudently managed by the Yuengling family. Overcoming the 14 dry years of Prohibition, Yuengling persevered due in part to the ingenuity and creativity of its owners and loyalty of its consumers, finding particular success with ice cream products that would continue until 1985. Unlike many of the regional brewers who were forced to close their doors over time, Yuengling found a niche for itself beginning in the late 1980s. With the introduction of Yuengling Lager and Black & Tan, the brand became a sensation in and around Philadelphia. The popularity of their product has led to Yuengling being distributed in 14 states, making it not only the oldest, but the largest American-owned brewery.

From crop-dusting to the world's largest airlines, this pictorial history of Delta illustrates the people, places, and events that have shaped its history.

The history of Delta Air Lines can be traced back to 1924 and the start of an aerial crop dusting outfit, but it was in 1929 that scheduled passenger services began. From the small beginnings at Macon, Georgia and then Monroe, Louisiana and a small five-passenger plane, Delta has grown to become one of the world's leading airlines. This book celebrates a remarkable 75-year history in words and pictures, highlighting the men and women who have helped to make Delta a tour de force. Monumental growth and change occurred at Delta throughout the second half of the 20th century. By the start of the new millennium, Delta Air Lines was the world's largest airline in terms of passengers carried-120 million in 2000-and operating from the world's largest hub airport, Atlanta Hartsfield International. This volume uncovers the earliest days of Delta, from it first scheduled passenger service on June 17, 1929, through the myriad developments of the 20th century. Images culled from the Delta Air Transport Heritage Museum, Inc. and the author's personal collection are coupled with an engaging narrative in a collection sure to be treasured by Delta employees past and present, aviation enthusiasts, and the many who have flown with Delta over the years.

Wilmerding and the Westinghouse Air Brake Company tells the story of a town and company that grew up hand in hand through historical images.

When George Westinghouse Jr. founded the Westinghouse Air Brake Company, his air brakes, railroad equipment, and industrial pneumatic devices revolutionized rail travel, opening a new chapter in American industrial history. Not only were the products of his first company revolutionary, but the small borough he founded in 1890 in southwestern Pennsylvania became a model for residential and industrial development. Wilmerding, precisely planned and built according to Westinghouse's specifications, would house the workers-skilled and unskilled, black and white-who would produce George Westinghouse's air brake. Wilmerding and the Westinghouse Air Brake Company tells the story of a town and company that grew up hand in hand. This collection of historical photographs, drawn from the archive of the Westinghouse Air Brake Company, shows how the citizens of Wilmerding lived-from the factories where they worked everyday to the Castle, where they bowled and swam. See the Victorian-style homes where they lived with their families, the park where they strolled, and the company band they heard at concerts and parades. Learn about the industry-changing products they produced and sold globally. Wilmerding and the Westinghouse Air Brake Company is an American story of a man and his vision-how he and the town he founded changed the face of rail travel and industry.

Zippo has been owned and operated by the Blaisdell family for more than seventy years. Zippo Manufacturing Company contains photographs of the Blaisdells, the Zippo Riders, the Zippo ski slope, the Zippo car, special-edition lighters, and scenes from the town of Bradford. Zippo archives and private collections have yielded rare photographs of Zippo employees at work, company and collector events, and other highlights in the company's history.

This is the history of the supermarket where America grew up shopping, from the Hartford family's legacy to the generations of shoppers who depended on A&P for fair prices and quality food.

In 1859, the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, known everywhere as A&P, began as a mail-order business located at 31 Vesey Street in downtown Manhattan. In 1925, A&P operated more than thirteen thousand grocery stores nationwide, with more than forty thousand employees. By 1950, approximately ten cents out of every dollar spent on food in the United States passed over A&P counters. A&P: The Story of the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company tells the story of how cofounder George Huntington Hartford and his sons John and George brought A&P to a popularity with consumers that few companies have ever achieved. This stunning collection of vintage photographs shows such nostalgic scenes as the elegant early stores, their gleaming window displays, and the red horse-drawn delivery wagons with the A&P logo emblazoned on their sides. Shoppers choose from rows of colorful merchandise and fresh produce; uniformed storekeepers make change from ornate registers; and the founder's son tastes A&P's Eight O'Clock coffee. A&P is still an industry leader, and A&P: The Story of the Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company shows why.

Discover the maufacturing plant that typifies the era when American industrial giants dominated the global economy and generations of blue-collar workers strived for a fair share of the ""American Dream.""

A burgeoning town on the fringes of Chicago rose and fell with the successes of the Western Electric Company. For almost 90 years, the Hawthorne Works plant employed, educated, entertained, and defined the township of Cicero. As the manufacturing arm of Western Electric, Hawthorne contributed greatly to the prosperity and national defense of the United States. As the site of the controversial Hawthorne Studies of workplace motivation and behavior, the plant reconfigured business and social science models. A community within a community, Hawthorne had its own sports teams, social clubs, hospital, railroad yards, and savings and loan. At its peak, the works was the largest single-site employer in Illinois and one of the biggest manufacturing establishments in the country, second only to the Ford plant in Detroit.

The formula for C.F. Martin & Co.'s success has always been an unparalleled commitment to precise handcraftsmanship blended with optimum tonewoods, innovation, and singular design.

This family business has persevered from the Civil War through the present and remains the oldest surviving maker of stringed instruments in the world. It is the largest and most respected producer of acoustic guitars in America. The images in this book trace the remarkable development of the acoustic guitar in the hands of six generations of Martin family members who have managed the business from 1833 to today. C.F. Martin & Co. captures the buildings, employees, musicians, and exquisite instruments that have contributed to a lasting legacy.

Take a glimpse at one of America's best loved companies and a study in how to ""do the common thing uncommonly well.""

In 1869, the American diet was a dreary affair. Kitchen staples included bread, potatoes, other root vegetables, and meat. Tomatoes-then called ""love apples""-were an exotic fruit. A young 25-year-old Henry J. Heinz helped to change all of that. He established his company based on a single premise: quality. He demonstrated this commitment by bottling his first product, grated horseradish, in clear glass jars to showcase its purity. From his hometown near Pittsburgh, Heinz sparked a revolution. A colorful marketing genius, he was a foresighted entrepreneur whose peripatetic travels birthed the global H. J. Heinz Company, which today is the most international of all United States-based food companies. H. J. Heinz Company contains vintage images from the archives of one of America's first industrial photography studios. It captures memorable and creative marketing from the ""57 Varieties"" to today and features photography of many current initiatives in Heinz's main businesses of ketchup and sauces, meals and snacks, and infant foods.

Ann Arbor has seen many cherished landmarks and institutions come and go - some fondly remembered and others lost to time.

When the city was little more than a village in the wilderness, its first school stood on the now busy corner of Main and Ann. Stores like Bach & Abel's and Dean & Co. served local needs as the village grew into a small town. As the town became a thriving city, Drake's and Maude's fed generations of hungry diners, and Fiegel's clothed father and son alike. Residents passed their time seeing movies at the Majestic or watching parades go down Main Street. Join authors Patti F. Smith and Britain Woodman on a tour of the city's past.

This book documents the history of Thalhimers department stores, through stories and vintage photographs.

Thalhimers was founded in Richmond in 1842 by German Jewish immigrant William Thalhimer as a humble dry goods store. It expanded over the years to become a 26-store chain across the Southeast under the leadership of William's great-grandson, William B. Thalhimer Jr. It boasted the latest in clothing, shoes, and accessories for the entire family, the most modern of housewares, and gourmet foods and baked goods, including the iconic six-layer chocolate cake. Through decades of dramatic political and social change, Thalhimers stood strong, guided by the overarching philosophies of honesty, integrity, quality, and service. Loyal and devoted employees were the heart of Thalhimers, becoming part of the extended Thalhimer family. Sadly, in 1992, as a result of retail consolidation, the Thalhimer name was dropped and the flagship downtown Richmond store closed. A 150-year legacy ended, leaving behind cherished memories, stories, and images.