Delmar DustPan

1935 Benjamin Ad
The 1649 Act of Religious Toleration passed by the Maryland General Assembly only guaranteed toleration to those who professed to be Christians. It was not until 1825 that Jews were granted civil rights. Around the 1900’s Jewish peddlers started coming to the Eastern Shore and among them was Israel Leon Benjamin. In 1915 Israel L. Benjamin, a Lithuania Jewish immigrant, had accumulated enough money to buy the store of Samuel Lowenthal on Main street in Salisbury Maryland. The store was a small one room affair with the only heat coming from a stove in the center of the room. By providing good service his business expanded. In 1922 he purchased the adjoining building and arches were cut through to connect the two buildings. In 1926 he converted the second floor of both buildings to sales space. In 1935 a central air cooling system was installed and a children shop was opened by taking over the second floor of the Homer White building, again by cutting an arch thru to connect the stores. In 1940 he leased the second floor of the Kennerly & Mitchell building. For those not familiar with the old Benjamin Department store, it set on a slope so the ground floor on Main street was the First Floor but on the back side (Church street) when you entered at the ground street level it turned in to the balcony between the first and second floor. Walking thru the building you really felt the shift between the different stores and the slope of the hill as things seem to be on a slant.

Now why am I writing about Benjamins, well back in the 1950’s my mother worked there as a salesclerk (at 90 cents an hour) and after school let out I would walk up town to meet her. In those days department store on Main Street had hours of 9 to 5 and maybe on Saturday and Monday 9 to 9, so I would kill time by looking at stuff in McCrorys Five and Dime and Woolworth, listen to records at Watson Smoke House and maybe having a snack at Reads Drug store or Woolworth’s lunch counter. Downtown Salisbury was quite different than today. Benjamin’s was always a nice store. It was family run, to my knowledge, all of the Benjamin family worked in the store – sons, daughters, in-laws, it was a family store. Alvin I. Benjamin, Israel’s son, took over from his father. In spite of the 1950’s requirement of Black or Navy dresses with heels for the sales clerks my mother enjoyed working there because she enjoyed the people. The Benjamins were nice people. The store itself was aimed at service as were all the stores in that time period. Free gift wrapping, in a Benjamin’s gift box, was always expected. Free delivery was provided. You could call the store and tell them what you wanted and a delivery man would have it to your house in an hour. Salesclerks kept customer sizes and likes and dislikes so when they came in to shop the salesclerk knew what to show them (today the salesclerk will point with her thumb to where the items you are looking for are displayed, than go back to reading her book) . The store was three stories and had an elevator. It was not a self serve elevator it had a young woman who operated it for you. The store mostly was aimed at personal items, clothing, jewelry, cosmetic (they blended their own face powder), shoes, gloves, lingerie, etc.

One of the people who worked there was Bill Parker, yes the same Bill Parker that lives in Delmar, he was the First Floor manager. My mother said when the weather was bad, as in snowing, before closing he would go around and get the salesgirls car keys and run out and start their car so their car would be warm for them when they got to it. Now lets think about that. Today I doubt a manager would do that, but second it shows how innocent Salisbury was at that time as you could have your keys in the car and the car running, and the car unlocked and the car was not stolen. Most all of the people who worked there were that way. Alvin Benjamin, Homer Dishroom, Nell Pryor, Frankie Cross, Edith Rodbell, Emma Lee Latham, Ella Wade, Iva Dykes, Gertrude Williams, Faye Pusey Parker, were some who worked there and all were just pleasant people to be around.

1962 Ad
Benjamin’s had other branch stores scattered across Delmarva, but the Main Street store was the main one. In 1979 the Main Street Store burnt. It was already in receivership from slumping sales as the trend went to suburban shopping away from downtown. By the 1970’s people were looking for cheaper price merchandise, less to no service, and 24 hour store hours Benjamins was done for and in many ways it was the end of an era for Salisbury when the Main Street Store burnt.


1962 Ad