Isaac Jacobs Family
The stores operated by I. Jacobs & Sons became a bargain hunter’s destination in the late nineteenth century. “Away up King Street, a little off to be sure from the heart of the shopping marts, but on the direct line of the cars, are four big retail stores, Jacobs’, whose shelves are simply overflowing … Only a visit to the store could convey an idea of the many attractions.”
The main store, 506–512 was a three-story building completed in 1894. Its triple storefront with plate-glass windows made it “an ornament to upper King Street.” To store and display their immense stock—dry goods (fabrics and supplies), shoes, clothing, and crockery—Isaac and his wife, Janet, also owned 502–504 King Street, an elegant three-story wooden building with a pressed-metal façade, and they opened a millinery department at 498 King Street. The Jacobses lived above the business with their children and, like many Orthodox Jews, they closed the shops on Saturdays and holidays, providing benches on the street for people to wait until Isaac (called “Jew Jacobs” by his black customers) opened the door after dark.
The family ran the stores separately—dry goods and clothing, shoes, and millinery, until 1909. That year, 31-year-old Louis Jacobs, who, from the tender age of fifteen had managed the shoe store at 502 King Street, consolidated and modernized the businesses. Jacobs Shoe Store moved into the main building, 510 King Street, and became one of the largest shoe display rooms in the south. After a fire the next year, the dry goods and clothing stocks were phased out, but Louis continued to operate the shoe store with help from his younger brother Samuel. Jacobs Millinery, managed by Louis’s sister Sarah Jacobs, remained at 498 King Street into the 1930s, after Morris Sokol had taken over 504–512 King Street as a furniture store.
498 King Street (center), 1985
One of the buildings owned by the Isaac Jacobs family.City of Charleston Architectural Inventory (Geier Brown Renfrow Associates), SC Department of Archives and History, Columbia.
502 King Street (center), 1985
One of the buildings owned by the Isaac Jacobs family. City of Charleston Architectural Inventory (Geier Brown Renfrow Associates), SC Department of Archives and History, Columbia.
506–512 King Street, looking south, no date
Former site of the Isaac Jacobs family’s main store. City of Charleston Architectural Inventory (Geier Brown Renfrow Associates), SC Department of Archives and History, Columbia.
506–512 King Street, looking north, no date
Former site of the Isaac Jacobs family’s main store. City of Charleston Architectural Inventory (Geier Brown Renfrow Associates), SC Department of Archives and History, Columbia.
502 King Street, 2016
Jacobs building. Photo by Jack Alterman.