Title	Remember When...the hat shop wore a hat?
Description	Often a sign hanging outside a turn-of-the-century shop told people what to expect - and the message here was clear, even without the added writing on the awning. Edward Plaum began working as a clerk in 1888 and became a hatter in 1892. By 1897, he was operating this store at 491 11th Ave. (1300 block of S. 16th St.) As the photograph verifies, hats were standard apparel for men in those days. The store was filled with boxes of hats from which they could choose, but Plaum also carried other men’s furnishings including shirts and Signal brand overalls. The sidewalks were still wooden and merchants made deliveries by horse and wagon. The Plaum family lived on the premises of the store until the late 1920s when they moved to a more spacious house. Plaum Clothing Co. continued to be run by members of the family after Edward Plaum’s death in 1941. The business was purchased in1954 by Mayer-Krom Co. Photograph and information from the Milwaukee Public Library local history collection.
Library of Congress Subject Headings	Eleventh Avenue (Milwaukee, Wis.); Sixteenth Street (Milwaukee, Wis.); Hat trade -- Wisconsin -- Milwaukee; Clothing trade -- Wisconsin -- Milwaukee; Plaum, Edward E.; Horse-drawn vehicles; Hatter (Milwaukee, Wis.)
Publisher	Milwaukee Public Library
Date Original	1897
Source	Milwaukee Journal
Newspaper Publication Date	11-08-1980
Date Copyrighted	2005
Type	Image
Has Format	Photograph
Relation	RW 1763
Collection	Remember When, F. P. Zeidler Humanities Room, Milwaukee Public Library
Rights	All rights reserved © Milwaukee Public Library
Order form	http://www.mpl.org/coldfusion/email_digital_rw.cfm
Date created	01-06-2009