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Anna Rosenberg's notion store looted
The fire started sometime after 11.00 PM, when Herbert Canter, who owned the pharmacy five doors down from the notion store, at 419 Lenox Avenue, arrived to try and protect his business. He remained until 5.00 AM, and testified in the Municipal Court that he saw the fire but not who started it. What Canter did reporting seeing was "a "mob" carrying bricks, stones and bottles, as well as canned goods march down the street shouting, "Down with the whites! Let's get what we can," and hurling missiles through the windows. The block on which Rosenberg's store was located saw reports of looting and violence in line with those in the blocks to the south.
Rosenberg had a policy covering her store with Royal Insurance; their fire adjuster's appraisal put the cost of the damage at $980.13. However, the insurance policy did not cover damage resulting from a riot. As a result, Rosenberg had joined other white merchants in suing the city for damages on the basis of the failure of police to protect businesses. The New York Herald Tribune reported Royal Insurance was "a co-defendant with the city in the case," although the basis for the claim against the city was that a riot had taken place, at odds with the basis for an insurance claim. Defending the city, Aaron Arnold, an assistant Corporation Counsel, denied a riot had taken place and maintained that the fire was unrelated to the disorder. The jury did not agree; they awarded Rosenberg $804.
The attacks on Rosenberg's store are mentioned only in stories about the Municipal Court trial in the New York Herald Tribune, Home News, New York American and Times Union, with the later two stories not reporting any testimony. In addition, the Afro-American published a photograph of the damaged interior of the store, taken looking into the store from the doorway. It shows the store full of damaged merchandise, with some material hanging from the ceiling visible in the foreground. The caption highlights that the store "was fired," after first being "raided," and identifies it as a notion store, but gives the address as 431 Lenox Avenue. That might actually have been the more precise address for Rosenberg's store. The Bromley real estate maps and the Tax Department recorded the address of buildings, not individual storefronts. The building with the address 429 Lenox Avenue contained two pairs of stores, one each side of a single entrance to the apartments above that would have had the building address. However, while the stores on the left of the entrance also had that address, the stores on the right of the would have been 431 Lenox Avenue. The caption goes on to state that firefighters came to the store, but were driven away by the "rioters." Canter made no mention of such a clash in his testimony in the Municipal Court. There is another photograph, published in the New York Daily News and in the Afro-American, showing the damaged interior of a store that the New York Daily News caption identifies as 429 Lenox Avenue. However, the details of the image suggest that it is not Rosenberg's store, but a neighboring business. While the interior is broadly similar to the first photograph, the stock appears different, bottles and glass containers more like hardware, which is what the Afro-American caption identifies the store as selling, than hoisery. The MCCH business survey found a hardware store at 429 Lenox Avenue after the disorder. While the Afro-American caption locates the store at West 129th Street and Lenox Avenue, three blocks to the south of 429 Lenox Avenue, as the image was taken by a New York Daily News photographer, that address is likely a mistake. Neither caption mentioned a fire and there is no obvious fire damage, other than material hanging from the ceiling.
Given that the court award covered the bulk of her losses, Rosenberg likely was able to remain in business after the disorder. The MCCH business survey does not include a notion store at 429 Lenox Avenue in the second half of 1935, but instead white-owned hardware and grocery stores, and no businesses at 431 Lenox Avenue. However, the Tax department photograph from 1939-1941 shows a hoisery store - a name often used for notion stores - that seems likely to be Rosenberg's business, still operating, at 431 Lenox Avenue.
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This page references:
- "2d Damage Suit Lost by City in Harlem Rioting," New York Herald Tribune, October 16, 1935 [clipping]
- "City Again Held Liable for Harlem Rioting as Woman Wins $804 for Store Burning," Home News, October 16, 1935 [clipping].
- "$804 Riot Suit Lost by City," New York American, October 16, 1935 [clipping].
- "City Loses 2d Suit in Riot Damage," Times Union, October 16, 1935 [clipping]