This fantastic photograph is from the collection of Pat Sides Jennings. As the sign reads, this is the store of Joseph William Mariencheck at 78 Main Street.
According to city directories, Joseph started working for L. Fritz & Bro. when he was only 13 years old. Louis Fritz, whose family tinware manufacturing company had been in operation in Memphis since 1867, owned two parcels on Main Street at numbers 149 and 151. Joseph worked with Fritz for 16 years as a tinsmith and foreman until 1892 when he finally branched out on his own. opening an iron works / tin company on Washington Street. Eventually, he made his way back to Main street, where he ran a stove and tinware store below his residence at number 78. The store, which was eventually listed simply as "hardware," was in operation at the Main Street location until 1908 when he moved to 2nd street.
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| We'll have more in a future post about the businesses of both Louis
Fritz and Joseph Mariencheck. Meanwhile, there's the topic mystery: who
are the people in this photograph? It's easy to presume that we're
looking at Joseph W. Mariencheck himself. His only son, John Philip,
was 12 years old in 1899 when the Main Street location opened - so the
young boy in the photograph could be him. However, without any confirmed photographs of Joseph or Philip at this approximate age to compare to, we're leaving the identities of these subjects in the "unknown" column. Do you know who this is? |
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