Faded Hints of the Past Series: Baltimore's Five and Dime Store

Ghost Ad visible from
the corner of Marion St.
and Park Avenue

    It's been several months since CharmCityHistory has highlighted any of the city's remaining precious faded hints into Baltimore's past.  This time we travel to Baltimore's West Side (U.S. Census tract "401") District and stand at the southeast corner of Marion Street and Park Avenue.  Staring up at what is the back side of the building at 117 West Lexington Street, you will notice a tiled white wall having a rather predominant "S.S." outline of lettering.  Taking a little more of a careful look, the observer will begin to make out another faded part of the clue, "KRES.."

    The front facade of this mostly white glazed terra cotta panel covered building is situated at the southeast corner of West Lexington and Park Avenues, the easternmost edge of what was once known as Baltimore's shopping district.   According to the Maryland Historical Trust the building  with its sweeping curved corner is one of the finest examples in Baltimore of an Art Deco or Modernistic architecture style although it didn't start out looking this way.

117 West Lexington Street (circa 2012)
(Photo Courtesy: BaltimoreFotos.com)

    Within a different but quite similarly sized building since 1894 was the J. Edward Bird & Company, a successful department store owned by J. Edward and his brother Warren C. Bird begun in 1837 on Pratt Street by their father J. Edward Bird, Sr.  According to the Baltimore Sun, the firm grew rapidly and won quite a reputation for reliability, first moving to 211 West Baltimore Street in 1840 and then to 213 West Baltimore Street in 1856, before ending on June 29, 1910 what would be a total of 73 years here.  

Baltimore S.S. Kresge
Advertisement, April 1922
(Courtesy: Baltimore Sun)

    Immediately nearby this location was a hotbed of properties on West Lexington and Liberty Streets  that were owned by once famous firms like Woodward & Lothrop of Washington and gaining the interest of New York firms as well.  As early as December 1909, negotiations were being made for a new leasing occupant at this location by an aspiring young man, Sebastian Spering Kresge.  He graduated from business college in 1889 and, after about eight years of having worked in a five and ten cent store (a business concept first originated by the Woolworth Brothers in 1879) in Tennessee, founded his own company with two similar five and ten cent stores in 1897.

    The S.S. Kresge Company, as it would eventually be known to be, had grown nationally to 19 stores when a Baltimore Sun advertisement stating "WANTED-75 SALESLADIES," soon after officially opening its 20th store at this location in July 1910, complete with soda fountain cafe.  Financial documents reported that the property was eventually purchased on January 6, 1913 by Kresge for approximately $400,000.

S.S. Kresge Department Store,
Baltimore, circa 1940

    Baltimore housewives were flocking to the store throughout the 1920s when it became apparent that a new and improved building was in order.  In a November 1937 Sun news article, plans were announced to replace the original S.S. Kresge building with a new one at the cost of $250,000 - this is the present building of today.

    Business for the Kresge store had expanded to the point where more floor space was needed and in April 1940, the nearby adjacent buildings at 120-122 North Liberty Street were purchased from the New York Life Insurance Company.  Those buildings were later razed in 1955 so as to allow for a new, adjoined, extension retail space.  As a result of this building addition, a year later, the Building Congress and Exchange of Baltimore gave the Baker Cork and Tile Company of Baltimore, Inc. a workmanship award its formica stair walls.

July 1922 Dixie Cup
Advertisement citing
S.S. Kresge Store's
Soda Fountain
(Courtesy: Baltimore Sun)

    By Oct 1967, as reported in the Baltimore Sun, S.S. Kresge's replaced the original fountain with an expanded 124-seat food unit and business continued profitably throughout the 1970s.  Discount stores such as this, like Woolworths on West Lexington Street, began to struggle in the next decade.  By June 1984, rather than merely changing names to its then owner Kmart Corporation, it would close its doors forever, sadly just short of 80 years of business in Baltimore.  By the Fall of the same year, it would be replaced by a Drug Fair on the first floor and upper levels replaced by offices.  The Baltimore Woolworth store closed in 1993.

   This once famous location in Baltimore's downtown shopping experience within what had become known as the Lexington Mall area briefly experienced surge of preservation interest in response to a 1998 West Side Master Plan and Baltimore City Council Ordinance sponsored by the Baltimore Heritage, Inc. and Preservation Maryland.  The revitalization flame flickered, but was short-lived.

    As reported in a recent Baltimore Sun newspaper article, the Baltimore Development Corporation is again attempting to draw interest in this historic area of the city through its efforts to seek bidders on a small group of parcels in hopes to preclude demolition of similar buildings such as the S.S. Kresge department store.  Let's hope that Baltimore can somehow this time keep the fire burning... for  old time sake!

(Newspaper Article Citations: Courtesy of the Baltimore Sun)