Flint & Kent

Last updated
Flint & Kent
Industry Retail
Founded1832
Defunct1956
FateSold to The Sample [1]
Headquarters Buffalo, New York
ProductsClothing

Flint & Kent was an upscale department store based in Buffalo, New York.

Contents

History

It had its roots in a dry good store that opened in 1832 by Benjamin Fitch (1802–1883) at 288 Main Street, Buffalo. In 1836, the store was called Fitch, Marvin & Co., then Fitch & Marvin — the second name reflecting Fitch's partner, Eurotas Marvin (1810–1887) [1]

On February 17, 1865, the owners — (i) Ethan Howe Howard (1812–1898), (ii) Joshua Mortimer Whitcomb (1821–1897), and (iii) William Bradford Flint (1826–1887), operating as co-partnership under the name Howard, Whitcomb & Co. — dissolved their partnership and sold their interest to a newly formed co-partnership of (a) William Bradford Flint, (b) Henry Mellen Kent (1823–1894), and (c) R.P. Stone, operating as a co-partnership under the name Flint, Kent & Stone. On October 25, 1866, Stone sold his interest to Henry Cogswell Howard (Ethan Howard's son; 1847–1913) and the firm henceforth was known as Flint, Kent & Howard. The eventually became known as Flint & Kent. [2]

In 1856 William Bradford Flint (1826–1887) joined the company, followed by Henry Mellen Kent (né Henry Mellen Kent; 1823–1894) in 1865, the store became known as Flint, Kent & Stone – and eventually just Flint & Kent. [1] In 1897, Flint & Kent moved its flagship store from 554 Main Street to a building that was designed by Edward Austin Kent, Henry Kent's son and noted Buffalo architect who died in 1912 as a passenger aboard the RMS Titanic . [1]

Sale

In 1954, the company was sold to "Jack" Hahn (né Charles John Hahn, Jr.; 1927–2014), whose father owned Sattler's. The company was sold in 1956, to The Sample. [1] Jack Hahn, a Buffalo native and 1949 alumnus of Princeton University, sold the company in 1956 to The Sample and went on to Harvard Law School, graduating in 1960.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Levi Leiter</span>

Levi Ziegler Leiter was an American businessman based in Chicago. He co-founded what became the Marshall Field & Company retail empire.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nat Goodwin</span> American actor (1857–1919)

Nathaniel Carl Goodwin was an American male actor and vaudevillian born in Boston.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Associated Dry Goods</span> American department store chain

Associated Dry Goods Corporation (ADG) was a chain of department stores that merged with May Department Stores in 1986. It was founded in 1916 as an association of independent stores called American Dry Goods, based in New York City.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ezra Fitch</span> American lawyer

Ezra Hasbrouck Fitch was an American real estate developer and hobbyist outdoorsman. He bought into and later fully owned the company that became Abercrombie & Fitch. He introduced mahjong to the US.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">D. Appleton & Company</span> American publishing company

D. Appleton & Company was an American publishing company founded by Daniel Appleton, who opened a general store which included books. He published his first book in 1831. The company's publications gradually extended over the entire field of literature. It issued the works of contemporary scientists, including those of Herbert Spencer, John Tyndall, Thomas Huxley, Charles Darwin, and others, at reasonable prices. Medical books formed a special department, and books in the Spanish language for the South America market were a specialty which the firm made its own. In belles lettres and American history, it had a strong list of names among its authors.

Flint v. Stone Tracy Co., 220 U.S. 107 (1911), was a United States Supreme Court case in which a taxpayer challenged the validity of a federal income tax on corporations. The privilege of incorporation is a state function, and the challengers argued that only the states should tax corporations. The Court ruled that the privilege of operating in corporate form is valuable and justifies imposition of a federal income tax:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">East Malling Stream</span> River in Kent, England

The East Malling Stream, known locally as "The Stream", rises at Well Street, East Malling, Kent, and flows in a generally easterly direction to join the River Medway at Mill Hall, Aylesford. It powered six watermills. The stream may have formerly been known as the Bradbourne, Bradbourne Lane in Ditton bearing witness to this name.

The Sample, also known as The Sample Dress Shop or The Sample Shop, was a family-owned, high end department store specializing in upscale ladies clothing and furnishings based in Buffalo, New York. The original store was established by Anne W. Bunis on Hertel Avenue in North Buffalo in 1928. The company started when Mrs. Bunis returned from a trip to New York City with a set of 48 "sample" dresses, which she in turn sold for $12.75 each. Expansion occurred during the early 1950s with stores at Lancaster, New York; Lockport, New York; Thruway Plaza in Cheektowaga, New York; South Buffalo at 2182 Seneca Street; and Downtown Buffalo at 554 Main Street, the former home of Flint & Kent. The Downtown Buffalo store closed in 1959. In 1961, a store opened in Amherst, New York and in 1969, a store opened at Seneca Mall in West Seneca, New York. In 1971, a store opened at Eastern Hills Mall, with another store opening up at the Summit Park Mall in 1972, and in 1985, a store opened in McKinley Mall in Hamburg, New York. The last store in the then 11-store chain opened in 1988 at Walden Galleria in Cheektowaga, New York. In 1990, following the death of company chairman Maer Bunis, the company began a rapid descent into bankruptcy. On January 13, 1991, the flagship Hertel Avenue store closed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry E. Davies (judge)</span> American judge

Henry Ebenezer Davies was an American lawyer and politician from New York. He was Chief Judge of the New York Court of Appeals from 1866 to 1867.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Finch-Hatton, 11th Earl of Winchilsea</span> British peer and Tory politician

George James Finch-Hatton, 11th Earl of Winchilsea and 6th Earl of Nottingham, styled Viscount Maidstone between 1826 and 1857, was a British peer and Tory politician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Henry Howard (Detroit)</span> American politician

Henry Howard was a banker and businessman, and served as mayor of Detroit in 1837, and as the first treasurer of the state of Michigan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Marvin H. Chamberlain</span> American politician

Marvin H. Chamberlain was the mayor of Detroit, Michigan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward Austin Kent</span> American architect (1854–1912)

Edward Austin Kent was a prominent architect in Buffalo, New York. He died in the sinking of the RMS Titanic and was seen helping women and children into the lifeboats.

The Dwight family of New England had many members who were military leaders, educators, jurists, authors, businessmen and clergy.

The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Burlington, Vermont, USA

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Charles Tudor Williams</span>

Charles Tudor Williams was an American businessman, author, composer, linguist, and educator. He was an older brother to Edward Porter Williams,, and uncle of pioneering American Neurosurgeon Dr. Harvey Williams Cushing.

The Tyrone Daily Herald is an American daily newspaper serving Tyrone, Pennsylvania, and region – northern Blair County and nearby portions of Centre and Huntingdon Counties. The newspaper has been running for one hundred and fifty-six years, the latter one hundred and thirty-six as a daily.

General Sir John Wright Guise, 3rd Baronet was a British Army general.

Jabez G. Fitch was a businessman and political figure from Vermont. Among the offices in which he served was United States Marshal for Vermont, a position he held from 1794 to 1801.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">J. G. Robertson</span>

John Graham Robertson was a tenor who made London and New York appearances in Shakespeare with Henry Irving's company in the early 1880s. He served as principal tenor of the D'Oyly Carte Opera Company in several Gilbert and Sullivan operas at the Savoy Theatre during 1887 and 1888. Robertson produced and directed the opera Mignonette in 1889 before creating the role of Alfredo in the comic opera The Mountebanks in 1892. He concentrated on concert singing from the 1890s into the 20th century.

References

Notes
  1. 1 2 3 4 5 LaChiusa, Chuck. "Flint & Kent Dry Goods /Hippodrome Theater". www.buffaloah.com. Buffalo Architecture and History. Retrieved 1 July 2017.
  2. "Howard, Whitcomb & Co." becomes "Flint, Kent & Stone" (paid announcement), The Buffalo Commercial Advertiser, Vol. 31, No. 11433, February 18, 1865, p. 3, col. 8; OCLC   16095896
Sources