“If any department store in Baltimore gave Hutzler’s a run for its money, it was Hochschild’s.“ – Michael J. Lisicky, Baltimore’s Bygone Department Stores: Many Happy Returns
According to Jacques Kelly, “Hochschild’s sold what you needed, not what you aspired to get.” In 1997, the Baltimore Sun columnist reminisced about the bargain basement at Hochschild Kohn’s, with its creaking wooden floors, in-store post office, and shelves of “pots, pans, cabinets full of embroidery thread, inexpensive tablecloths, phonograph records and scissors displays.”
Hochschild Kohn’s may not have had the high-fashion and prestige of Hutzler’s, but shoppers needed lamps, typewriters, pet supplies and fountain pens too. According to department store historian Michael J. Lisicky, “with a very strong line of basic merchandise, Hochschild’s was seen as ‘the people’s store’.” Hutzler’s had all the glamour, but Hochschild’s was a necessary mainstay.
Advertisement, Der Deutsche Correspondent, 1912
Hochschild Kohn’s was the outgrowth of a South Charles Street clothing store founded by the Kohn family in 1862. In 1897, brothers Louis & Benno Kohn pooled resources with friend Max Hochschild to open a “palace” at Howard and Lexington. The store was infamously cramped and confusing, with ad-hoc expansions built as the business empire grew. In 1923, the company announced plans to finally build a bigger space on a city block bounded by Howard, Franklin, Park, and Center Streets. As it was being built, Hochschild sold his stake in the store to retire, although he did maintain an office where he would “sit around and loaf” for many years until passing away at age 101 in 1957. Financial difficulties prevented the larger property from ever being fully completed as planned.
By 1945, the leadership of Hochschild Kohn’s consisted of Treasurer/V.P. Louis B. Kohn II, president Martin B. Kohn, and his wife Rosa. Rosa had been an editor for the New York Times Sunday magazine, and according to the family, her publicity acumen deserves credit for much of the department store’s success and growth during this era. In the 1950s, Hochschild Kohn’s expanded into the growing suburbs to reach markets in such as Anne Arundel County.
Hochschild’s Thanksgiving parade, Retro Baltimore
It was the wife Louis B. Kohn, II who contributed this cookie recipe to the Park School Cookbook. Born Frances Josephine Levy in 1916, she married Louis B. Kohn II (grandson of store founder Louis B. Kohn) in 1940. She charitably contributed to many organizations around Baltimore including Goucher College, Baltimore Clayworks, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and Planned Parenthood. She passed away in 2012.
In the cookbook, the cookies are entitled “Kohn Cookies.” I am not sure whether that is referring to the family or to something served at the store. Certainly, Hochschild Kohn’s leaves a legacy of recipes behind, having produced at least one “Salad and Dessert Cook Book,” in 1933. That book was actually written by cookbook author Mabel Claire, and released as a promotional item for different stores, including Macy’s. These cookies do not appear in the Macy’s version of the recipe book, at any rate.
It bears infinite repetition that nostalgia for the glamorous era of downtown department stores deserves careful reconsideration. As stated in Baltimore Style Magazine: “in 1960, Hochschild’s served 120 Morgan State student demonstrators in the downtown store restaurant, becoming the first of Baltimore’s department stores to integrate and eventually change their strict policies of not allowing African-Americans to either try on or return clothing.“
Afro-American, 1945
The chain went out of business in 1983, just a few years before its rival, Hutzler’s threw in the towel. The store downtown on Lexington & Howard had been abandoned in 1977.
According to Baltimore Style, what many Baltimorean’s remember most about Hochschild Kohn’s was their Thanksgiving parade which made it’s way from the BMA to downtown each year from 1933 to 1966, signaling the start of Christmas Shopping season with a “jovial to some, terrifying to others” mechanized Santa Claus.
Christmastime advertisements boasted “dolls that look like real live children,” ostrich-plumed hats, Parisian ivory toilet accessories, aprons & caps “for the maid,” turkey roasters, and inexpensive fabric, ideal for men’s shirts or modern “women’s mannish waists.” The advertisements promised that “the delicious food, the dainty surroundings and the quiet restfulness” of their sixth floor Tea Room would “send you to your afternoon shopping refreshed and invigorated.”
Recipe:
- 4 eggs
- .5 Lb grated bitter chocolate
- 1.5 Cup brown sugar
- 1.5 Cup sugar
- 1 Cup flour
Beat sugar and eggs together. Add chocolate and beat well again. Add flour gradually. Drop from teaspoons to well-buttered cookie sheet (they spread quite a lot). Bake in 350° oven for 9 minutes for crisp cookies. 6 minutes for chewy cookies. This makes 100 cookies.
