“Clothes of Charm” - The Gorton Coy

by Erin Doane, Curator

The Gorton Coy, northeast corner of Main and Water Streets, 1949

For 56 years, the Gorton Coy was Elmira’s leading specialty shop. Women of discerning taste shopped there for all of their fashion needs. On July 3, 1916, Warren A. Gorton of Batavia purchased E. N. Crandall’s store, a small shop at 127 West Water Street in Elmira. Within days of the purchase, Gorton announced he would be selling off all of Crandall’s stock in order to make way for the new Gorton Company fashions. Gorton’s partner and co-owner of the store, Morris A. Black, was president of the Lindner Company of Cleveland and the manufacturer of “Wooltex” clothing. Their store in Elmira became the area’s exclusive seller of the Wooltex line. In 1917, they moved the store to 107 East Water Street.

Elmira Star-Gazette, July 10, 1916

George H. Danzig became manager of the store in 1919 and worked to transform it into a fashion center for the city. He had a second floor added to the single-story building and brought in a shoe department and a millinery department, the Charm Hat Shop. He built the store’s reputation among fashionable, discriminating women in the 1920s by stocking exclusive brands.  He was also the one who decided that the company’s name would be abbreviated to the Gorton Co’y, as was common in England. A sign painter, not understanding the abbreviation, produced a sign for the store that simply read “Gorton Coy” and the name stuck. In 1923, Danzig purchased 51 percent of stock in the company and took effective control of the business. Six years later, when his health began to fail, he sold his share of the store to Morris Black.

Elmira Star-Gazette, September 19, 1928

In the late 1920s, plans started being made to move the Gorton Coy to a new, larger building. A desirable location at the corner of Main and Water Streets was selected and a lease was secured. Then, the work began on building the store’s new home. On June 13, 1930, as excavation at the site was just nearing completion, tragedy struck. A wooden walkway that had been constructed along the west side of the work area collapsed under more than twenty pedestrians. Eleven-year-old Maria Smolka died in the accident and Effie W. Corey died the next day from her injuries after spending 45 minutes pinned in the wreckage. Nineteen others were sent to the hospital. Twenty lawsuits were subsequently filed against the Lowman Construction Company, which was in charge of the building project.

Building site after the walkway’s collapse, June 1930

The project continued, however, and on March 12, 1931 at 9:30am the new Gorton Coy store opened for business. The building was one of the last projects designed by Pierce and Bickford and is one of the only known examples of Art Deco architecture associated with the firm. The building’s three floors were filled with fashion, from coats and dresses to sportswear and undergarments. There was a beauty salon conducted by M. Henri of Paris on the third floor and a modern tearoom with two private dining rooms. The general offices were also on the third floor and the building was plumbed with a pneumatic tube system for transporting paperwork.

Pneumatic tube carrier used at the Gorton Coy

In 1938, Richard G. Raitt moved to Elmira to work as manager of the Gorton Coy. In 1941, he purchased the company outright and became the sole owner. In the mid-1940s, a department with electrical appliances for the home was added, the beauty salon was renovated and enlarged, and five toddler, child, and teen departments were combined to form Gorton’s Youth Center. Two new stores were also opened in Penn Yan and Geneva.

Electric City shop at Gorton Coy, 1946

Younger Set Shop at Gorton Coy, 1950

In 1967, Lane Bryant Inc. purchased Gorton Coy. Two years later, $250,000 was spent on a modernization program to make improvements to the entire store. Two new departments catering to tall women and larger women were added and one of the two manual elevators was replaced by a self-service elevator.

Buttons from one of the Gorton Coy’s manual elevators

Gorton Coy hatboxes, c. 1940s-1960s

The flood of June 1972 did considerable damage to the basement and first floor of the Gorton Coy. As a result, the store closed and its forty employees were laid off. In September of that year, Lane Bryant announced that the store was closing for good. In October, Luckey-Platt & Co. purchased the company and continued operating the store with marginal success under the Gorton Coy name until 1975 when it finally closed its doors for the last time. In 1988, the words “Gorton Coy” were removed from the building and in April 1991, the building was renamed the Komer Center.

Elmira Star-Gazette, November 6, 1972

The House that Pierce & Bickford Built

by Rachel Dworkin

Over the years, Chemung County has been home to many architects, but our most famous local firm is that of Hiram H. Bickford (1863-1929) and Joseph H. Pierce (1855-1932).  The pair joined forces in 1891 and together they designed a wide range of buildings throughout the Twin Tiers.

Joseph Pierce was the senior partner of the pair, having worked as an architect in Elmira since 1880.  From 1883 to 1890, Pierce worked with Otis Dockstader, primarily designing churches and homes.  One of their more famous local buildings is Elmira’s First Baptist Church, built in 1890.  They dissolved the partnership over a dispute regarding professional ethics in the spring of 1890.  Little is known about Hiram Bickford before he came to work for Pierce & Dockstader, except that he had worked as a draftsman at a number of firms throughout the Northeast.     

 

The firm worked on a wide range of buildings from residential to religious, commercial to civic.  Their work on public buildings was characterized by a sophisticated and varied treatment of historical styles.  For those of you who are, like me, not architects, that means that they liked to design buildings to have elements that made them look like they were from another time period.  The Elmira City Hall, for example, looks very much like a Renaissance style building which, in turn, rips off a lot of stylistic elements from Greco-Roman designs.  Personally, I just think it’s pretty.  

Pierce & Bickford also designed a number of private residences throughout the area.  Unlike their public buildings which had a clear and consistent “look,” their residential designs tended to cater to the personal style of the original client. 

All told, the pair built several hundred buildings and designed the renovations for many more, including 415 E. Water Street.  If you are interested in seeing examples of their draft work, the Booth Library has blueprints and concept drawings for a number of their buildings including Elmira City Hall, 415 E. Water, the S.F. Iszard’s Building and the home of Mr. R.E. Kinsman among others.  For those interested in a more in-depth look at their lives and their work, we have the book Architects of Standing: Pierce & Bickford, Elmira, N.Y. 1890-1932 available for purchase in our gift shop.