Its founders, Aaron and Henry Belber, scraped together $200 and started making luggage in a South Philadelphia basement.

[2] In 1920, the company purchased the Larkin Building on Arch Street in Philadelphia to house its main office, a factory and a salesroom.

In addition, Belber built a national network of production, distribution and direct sales by 1926, including manufacturing plants at Woodbury and Newark, New Jersey, Oshkosh and Wisconsin, as well as branch warehouses and offices in Pittsburgh, New York, Minneapolis, Chicago and San Francisco.

In the roaring twenties, Belber's trunks, suitcases and collapsible silk cord hangers were symbols of luxury travel.

The Belber brothers were determined to revolutionize the idea of the journey, developing a “luggage consciousness” to convince customers that the bag was just as important as what went inside it.

The Belber brothers were all about showing America that a bag was all about personality and they did this by spreading the word through illustrated magazine and newspaper ads.

[4] Belber operated a showroom and a store on the first floor of the building while the rail spur off the Schuylkill Expressway linked the firm to its national market.

In its architecture as well as its integration of manufacturing, office work, and retail functions, the Belber Building represented a "landmark of twentieth century commerce and industry.