Schwabacher Brothers

[7] The first to cross over was Louis Schwabacher, who came over with the help of his mother’s brother, Isaac Bloch of San Francisco.

Louis engaged in business several places in the Southern United States and settled for a time in Mississippi.

In the northwest corner, there was a glass space of 12x16 elevated with a fireplace where Mr. Sigmund Schwabacher could observe and direct the activities.

[4] Schwabachers' 1872 Seattle office at Front Street (now First Avenue South) and Yesler Way was the city's first brick building.

[8] A September 25, 1871 advertisement in the Intelligencer (predecessor of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer) boasted that the store "sold everything from a needle to an anchor.

[4][15][16] Schwabacher's Wharf was also the terminus for Seattle's first shipping trade route to the Orient, connecting to the Great Northern Railway.

[17] Along with Schwabacher protégé Jacob Furth, Bailey Gatzert played a key role in assuring the city a water supply in the 1880s.

[18] Various Schwabacher associates played major roles in Seattle's first Jewish congregation, Ohaveth Sholum.

[25] In addition, Jacob Furth, who had come to Seattle under the influence of the Gatzerts, and whose business interests were intertwined with theirs, played a major role on many fronts in the city's development.

[26][27] In 1919 the Seattle Post-Intelligencer wrote of the firm on its 50th anniversary: The history of Schwabacher is interwoven with the history of Seattle, not alone in that the firm and the city have progressed in the respective enterprises of business and community development, but in the more intimate relations between the men of the Schwabacher concern and their fellow citizens.

True public spirit has never been more constantly exemplified than by all of these, from Mr. Gatzert, the pioneer, to Nathan Eckstein, the present able head of the firm, always attended by generous contribution of time, service and money to every civic need.

[4] With numerous cousin marriages and multiple recurring forenames, the Schwabacher family genealogy can be confusing.

Louis Schwabacher and Belle (or Bella), née Blum, had two daughters, Mina Louise and Jacie.

Their children were Louis A., Jennie, Frederick, Sophie, and Mina Alice (who married Nathan Eckstein).

The Ecksteins had two daughters: Johanna—a noted Seattle philanthropist and patron of the arts, who never married—and Babette, who married twice and had four children.

Sigmund and Rosa Schwabacher's other children were Max, Mina, Lester (who died in infancy), Stella, Franklin (Frank), and Helen Rita.

Schwabacher Hardware Co. sign at 401 First Avenue S., Seattle, Washington
Schwabacher's Wharf, Seattle, circa 1900
Schwabacher's Hardware Co. at First and Yesler, Seattle, circa 1900
A similar view in 2007.
U.S.A.T. Egbert docked at Schwabacher's Wharf in 1900 while preparing to transport troops to China to deal with the Boxer Rebellion
Schwabacher's building at Occidental and Main, Seattle, circa 1900.
A similar view in 2007.