11-15 North Broad St (Commercial Building), 11-15 North Broad St Trenton, Mercer County, NJ
Dunham`s Department Store began as the Scudder and Dunham Dry Goods Store at 13 North Broad Street in 1883. The firm`s success and growth made it Trenton`s largest retailer by the 1930s, and it dominated this block of town in the mid-20th century. The core of Dunham`s was three adjacent Italianate style commercial buildings at 11,13, and 15 North Broad Street, built as a commercial block in 1867, known at the time as Lafayette Row . The storefronts were redesigned and the buildings of the row joined internally in 1905. Through the 20th century, Dunham`s expanded their selling area and offices by purchasing adjacent buildings and creating internal access to them, although the core of the store remained at the original location on Broad Street, Dunham`s aggressively pursued a program of modernization, remodeling and updating their building every decade. This could not reverse the movement to the suburbs of many of their customers in the 1950s-60s, so Dunham`s opened satellite stores in malls surrounding Trenton. These remain in business, but the flagship store on Broad Street was closed in 1983, succumbing to the general decline of downtown Trenton during this time.
11-15 North Broad St (Commercial Building), 11-15 North Broad St Trenton, Mercer County, NJ
Dunham`s Department Store began as the Scudder and Dunham Dry Goods Store at 13 North Broad Street in 1883. The firm`s success and growth made it Trenton`s largest retailer by the 1930s, and it dominated this block of town in the mid-20th century. The core of Dunham`s was three adjacent Italianate style commercial buildings at 11,13, and 15 North Broad Street, built as a commercial block in 1867, known at the time as Lafayette Row . The storefronts were redesigned and the buildings of the row joined internally in 1905. Through the 20th century, Dunham`s expanded their selling area and offices by purchasing adjacent buildings and creating internal access to them, although the core of the store remained at the original location on Broad Street, Dunham`s aggressively pursued a program of modernization, remodeling and updating their building every decade. This could not reverse the movement to the suburbs of many of their customers in the 1950s-60s, so Dunham`s opened satellite stores in malls surrounding Trenton. These remain in business, but the flagship store on Broad Street was closed in 1983, succumbing to the general decline of downtown Trenton during this time.
Posted Date
Sep 27, 2021
Source Name
Library of Congress
