Arriving in Jacksonville in 1867, the Cohen brothers, Samuel and Morris, saw a town surviving the effects of the Civil War and goods were scarce. Coming from their father’s firm in New York City, their first store was in a log cabin on East Bay Street. Within two years, they moved to 41 West Bay Street, known as the “Baldwin Block,” bound by Bay, Main, Forsyth and Laura Streets. On December 19, 1870, that block burned. When completed, the new Cohen Brothers moved into larger quarters, 41-43 West Bay.
Following Samuel and Morris, two additional brothers came to Jacksonville. Julius came after they opened, but then died. Thirteen-year-old Jacob joined the firm in 1875. By 1880, Jacob was running the store and Samuel returned to New York to do the buying. Morris, moving to England, returned in 1912 and shared management until his death in 1920s.
Jacob Cohen was credited with being the first to put a price tag on his items. By 1885, Cohen Brothers had 20 employees and stock valued at 50,000. With the growth of the city, Cohen Brothers moved to larger quarters in 1897 at 29-33 West Bay Street. The great fire on May 3, 1901, destroyed downtown Jacksonville, Cohen Brothers included.
After the fire, tourism was replaced with manufacturing, naval and military installations, transportation, banking and insurance. Jacob Cohen had visions of a larger store. The block bounded by Duval, Laura, Church and Hogan Streets, home of the former St. James Hotel, was vacant. With the start of the St. James Realty and Department Store, Jacob Cohen bought the block. Jacob hired architect Henry J. Klutho, whose design covered the entire parcel of land. The first two floors were topped with a central dome to let daylight in. The third and fourth floors would be the St. James Building office spaces.
With advice and financial assistance from his old friend, David May, this new store opened on October 21, 1912. David May founded his own store in 1878 in Leadville, Colorado. He purchased stock in Cohen Brothers and later sold back to the store owner. “Cohen Brothers – the Popular Dry Goods Store” included many new departments, such as books, candy, china, groceries, house furnishings, stationary and a soda fountain. In the basement was a pet shop, a print shop, fine lace, buttons, gloves, racks of sheet music and instruments, and a balcony looked down on the store.
Jacob Cohen died in 1927. His widow, Hattie Halle, served as president until her death in 1935. Her son, Halle, assisted in the management along with Percy Zacharias, son-in-law, and Col. Robert L. Seitner, son-in-law. Halle Cohen was president from 1936 until his death in 1956. Mortimer May, grandson of David May, negotiated the lease of the May Company with Cohen Brothers in 1959, becoming May-Cohen.
Hearing stories about Cohen Brothers from my mother and my aunt, on June 4, 2002, I had the pleasure of attending the birthday of my aunt Ethel Miller Watkins, who turned 95 years of age. Her sons gave her a party at Marsh Landing. Seated around a large table with sons, grandchildren and nieces, Aunt Ethel told us the story of working at Cohen Brothers in the Roaring Twenties and that her mother often had the Cohen brothers at their house for dinner. We were all given a small, framed picture of her in 1924 and a copy of the newspaper article, which read:
“PRETTY, Here’s Miss Ethel Miller, Who Copped First Place in Cohen Brothers Picnic Beauty Contest.”
“Blonde, blue-eyed and seventeen, when the men of Jacksonville pay her what they owe for the clothing and haberdashery they buy at Cohens’ big store, Miss Ethel Miller gives them a treat just to look at her, according to the decision of the other employees of the store, who voted at the Labor Day picnic that the little cashier in the men’s department was the prettiest of the pretty, in a bathing suit.
Miss Miller has been presiding over the dollars, halves, quarters, dimes and nickels at the men’s department for some time, having been one of the members of the Cohen store family for three years. She lives with her widowed mother, Mrs. Lettie A. Miller, at 1214 Miller Avenue. When she isn’t busy at the cashier’s desk, she enjoys dancing and swimming more than anything else.
“I’m crazy about it here,” said Miss Miller. “I think that old picnic was a barrel of fun. I think there are lots of prettier girls than I am, but I sure was tickled when they picked me out.”
What a beauty Ethel Miller was at 17 and 95. She was born June 4, 1907. She married Richard Miles Watkins in 1925 and had 3 sons: Richard Miles Watkins, 1926-1976; Thomas Robert “Bobby” Watkins, 1928-2017 and her third son, Lloyd Watkins (my cousin), is married to Eleanor Burns, daughter of former Mayor Hayden Burns. Ethel Miller Watkins died on February 17, 2006, at 98 years of age. A life well lived by a beautiful, sweet lady!
Nancy Gandy | Merrill House Museum Coordinator