Baltimore's Own Toy Story - Schwarz and Schwerdtmann

Frederick A.O. Schwarz,
Land Ownership Plot, c1865
(Courtesy: Ancestry.com)

According to land records, just about 1,500 feet to the west of chrome magnate Jesse Tyson's (featured in an earlier CharmCityHistory blog post) Cylborn estate, in a plot of land between the current-day Pimlico and Cold Springs neighborhoods, resided a certain Frederick August Otto Schwarz.  He immigrated from Germany at the age of 20, the youngest of four brothers who also lived in Baltimore.

  Preceding his arrival in America were his three older brothers who

Schwarz Brothers
Baltimore, 1862

were all born in Herford, Westphalia Province in Germany, to a jeweler named Frederick and his wife Frederica Rothe Schwarz - they were Henry, Gustav A., and Richard.  The oldest and first to immigrate was Henry who for a short time owned property in downtown New York but having found it to be too liberal to his taste, by 1858, convinced all the siblings to move to Baltimore.

Schwerdtmann & Co.
Holiday Advertisment, 1869
(Courtesy: Baltimore Sun)

   According to Baltimore City Business Directories, by 1860,  Frederick was a salesman and Henry was partnered with Theodore Schwerdtmann as owners of a toy and fancy goods store named Schwerdtmann & Co. at 7/9 N. Howard Street (next to the old "Howard House," currently occupied by Instant Financials and Wireless One businesses) and a location at the SE corner of Baltimore and Calvert Streets.  By 1863, Henry had moved to Baltimore County and Frederick was living at 157 W. Fayette St. (basically the current location of the Liberty Street Dog Park), both partnered at Scwherdtmann & Co. which was now also at 133 W. Baltimore Street.

   In 1863, Frederick was at 157 W. Fayette, Henry in Baltimore County, both partnered with Theodore Schwerdtmann at Schwerdtmann & Co., 7 and 9 N. Howard St (next to "Howard House")

Schwerdtmann & Schwarz
1870 Christmas Display Ad
(Courtesy: Baltimore Tribune)

and 133 W. Baltimore Street.   In 1865, both Frederick and Henry resided in Baltimore County, Frederick was working at the 327 W. Baltimore Schwerdtmann & Co. location and Henry worked with Theodore Scwhwerdtmann at the 327 and 133 W. Baltimore Street locations.

1870 F.A.O. Schwarz
Newspaper Ad

  The last records of Frederick August Otto (F.A.O.) owning in Baltimore was in 1869, when in addition to his Baltimore County property, he last lived at 66 N. Greene Street, later moving with his growing family to New York City where he established his own importing business, the Schwarz Toy Bazaar at 765 Broadway.  On February 1, 1870, Frederick had formally and legally dissolved his business relationship leaving only Henry in copartnership with Theodore as Schwerdtmann & Schwartz toys, fancy goods and novelties (see Christmas 1870 display ad).

Henry Schwarz's Toys
Christmas 1873 Display Ad
(Courtesy: Baltimore Sun)

   All four Schwarz brothers were fierce business minded men with staunch German ways but what united them was their love of the toy business. By the Christmas season of 1873, Henry Schwarz was now separately owning and operating a 'toys and fancy goods'  store at 211 W. Baltimore joined for a time by his brothers Richard and Gustav.   They each determined to separate urban markets in founding their businesses, Gustav opened a store at 106 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia; Richard on Washington Street, Boston, and of course F.A.O's highly prosperous Toy Bazaar, later to be known as F.A.O Schwarz on Fifth Avenue, New York City.

Polio-ridden Margarete Steiff
and her famous stuffed
Steiff Teddy Bear

   By 1880, Schwerdtmann & Co. had ceased to exist in Baltimore, but Schwarz moved his location to 15 E. Baltimore Street in 1888, a place that would unfortunately be in the direct path of Baltimore's Great Fire in 1904.  According to Baltimore Sun articles, Henry's courteous manners and the high-standard of goods he offered for sale attracted the fashionable and wealthy.  It was in that store where among all the assortment of toys that the stuffed "Teddy Bears" of Margarete Steiff's were remembered most - Henry Schwarz was the first merchant in America to import them from Germany.

  As Gustave became older and ailing in the late 1890s, his son Gustave began as a salesman in the store and then owner upon Henry's death on October 11, 1903.  Four months later, the fire would consume the original store but he reopened the Schwarz toy store at 315 North Charles Street (now Maisy's) where he operated it until it and another store location at 327 North Howard Street until 1922 when he became too ill and Baltimore's own toy story came to a close.