Heritage, Fall 2006 Page: 21
39 p. : ill. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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RE-FASHIONING DOWNTOWN
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Union Fashion Center Unites Retail and Residences
By Lauren Viennedolph Schwartz came to New York from Eastern
Europe as a 16-year-old boy in 1883. Alone and
oor, he learned English quickly and became a traveling
merchant. Because of the competitive market in New York,
Schwartz left the city to sell his wares in other states. One of his
destinations was Juarez, Mexico, which he visited at the urging
of relatives living there. He decided to stay, and after saving
enough money, he opened his first dry goods store in Juarez. He
met and married Fanny Amstater, and the couple soon moved to
El Paso, where Schwartz opened his second store.
Eventually, Schwartz established his Popular Dry Goods Store
at four locations in El Paso, employing many of the city's residents
and scores of his own relatives from Hungary. Built almost
90 years ago, the third of Schwartz's four stores has remained an
important fixture of the city. This establishment remained open
through the Mexican Revolution, two world wars, and the Depression,
but finally closed in 1995 due to the falling rate of theHenry Trost and Adolph Schwartz's Popular Dry Goods Store 89
years after it was built. All photos by Frederic Dalbin, AIA, unless
otherwise noted.peso and Mexico's recession. Many in the area considered the store
a cultural institution, not only because it provided the border region
with the latest fashions, but also because it was a source of
many jobs and much community support.
Adolph Schwartz was a great asset to his community. Aside from
running his stores, he served as president of the chamber of commerce
and belonged to many community groups, including the
Masonic Lodge. During the Mexican Revolution, he started the
Amigo Listo, a fund to provide food to the homeless, and The
Popular Foundation, which supported local community events
and scholarship programs. After his death in 1941, Schwartz's generosity
continued through bequests he left to numerous groups,
making him a legend in El Paso's history and a perfect example of
someone who personified the great "American Dream."
Henry C. Trost, the architect who designed the third Popular
Dry Goods Store and its annex, was another important person
in El Paso's history. Hailing from Ohio, he too moved from state
to state until he finally settled in El Paso in 1903. Trost & Trost,
the firm he started with his brother Gustavus, designed several of
the most important buildings in downtown El Paso and others in
nearby cities, thereby contributing to the architectural landscape
of New Mexico, Arizona, and West Texas for more than three decades.
Like Schwartz's business, the firm of Trost & Trost brought
the latest styles to the border region, although the trends they set
were in architecture instead of clothing.
Trost & Trost designed and built the third Popular Dry Goods
Store building in 1917, as well as the 1940's annex. Considered a
prime example of the Chicago Commercial style, the 1917 portion
is six stories of white sandstone. The annex is a five-story structure
of the same style and materials. The strong architectural form of
the buildings reflected the robust commercial life that El Paso enjoyed
from the 1910s until the 1960s.
Because of its architectural and historical significance in El Paso's
history, the Popular Dry Goods Store has been on the National
Register of Historic Places since 1980. The building is heralded as
one of the best examples of Trost's work in the Chicago Style. After
its closing in 1995, the building remained vacant for three years
until purchased by Union Fashion, the oldest men and women'sHE RITA GE * Fall 2006
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Texas Historical Foundation. Heritage, Fall 2006, periodical, Autumn 2006; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth45367/m1/21/: accessed April 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas Historical Foundation.