Charles Black Company, 1951

Black 001.jpg

Title

Charles Black Company, 1951

Subject

Clothier
Men's clothing

Description

Lee Black and P.G. Holly stand in front of the Charles Black Company store, a predecessor of the Black, Friedman and Winston men's clothing store.

Black, Friedman & Winston, a men's formal wear store, was located at 508 Greensboro Avenue in Tuscaloosa.

The store was a direct descendant of a store founded in 1861 by Bernard Friedman, the second cousin of Victor Friedman, and A.M. Loveman on Broad Street called the Atlanta Store, because the founders had changed stages in Atlanta on their way to Tuscaloosa.

Later, Victor Friedman and Herman Rosenau were the owners, and during this period the store was the target for what was called Tuscaloosa's first "air-bombardment." A boiler exploded in the ice plant of the Tuscaloosa Power, Light and Railway Co., flew 600 feet through the air to crash through the roof of the Atlanta Store to the second floor.

The store passed into the hands of M.D. and D.L. Rosenau and later was swept by a disastrous fire, one of the worst store blazes in Tuscaloosa history.

In the meantime, Charles Black, who had worked for the Atlanta Store earlier, had founded the Cleveland Trading Company in association with his son, Lee Black. They were joined in business by Victor Friedman, returning from Nashville, Tenn., with his son Morris. Charles Black died in 1912.

I.Z. "Ike" Winston joined the firm in 1917 and the business became a partnership of Lee Black, Morris Friedman and Winston. The store operated as the Charles Black Co., on Broad Street until 1934 when it moved to Greensboro Avenue and changed the name to Black, Friedman, and Winston Clothiers.

In the early days of the store, it supplied the cadet uniforms for University of Alabama students, the school being at the time a military academy.

The negative was reversed in the creation of this photograph.

Date

1951

Contributor

Betty Slowe (Description)

Type

Photograph

Identifier

1031

Coverage

Tuscaloosa (AL)

Original Format

Photograph

Physical Dimensions

3 1/2 inches x 5 1/2 inches