TENDER FEET IN STUYVESANT HEIGHTS (1910)
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The story you are about to read was composed from research conducted in the course of one of those investigations.
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Charles I. Clark seemed to be all about helping womens’ tired, aching feet.
From 1900 until 1923, at the intersection of Halsey Street and Broadway, sat Clark’s shoe store, above which was posted a sign that ran the width of his building (at the cornice): “THE CLARK SHOE.”
In Clark’s store, one of his shoe lines was “Grover’s Soft Shoes for Tender Feet,” a footwear design for women who were both sensitive and sensible.
The location of his store was an excellent one. Just outside of it was the stairway leading to and from the Halsey Platform for the Brooklyn Rapid Transit elevated train. People heading into Manhattan passed his store on their way to the elevated trains, and those returning from “the City” detrained there.
Additionally, in 1910, according to the Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Clark had invested in a major remodeling on the front of his store, which “considerably improved its appearance.”
Clark had “electric lights in concealed prism reflectors in the ceiling” which gave “ample illumination after nightfall” and “made the store bright and cheerful.”
So, there was every reason in the world for any woman who shopped along the Broadway business corridor to have purchased a pair of sensible shoes in Clark’s store – if she had tender feet.
TENDER FEET AT 738 MACON STREET
So it was, in 1910, that a woman living at 738 Macon Street, returning, possibly, from one of her trips to Manhattan, paid a visit to Mr. Clark’s store. There she purchased a pair of his Grover shoes, was handed a receipt for her shoes, and she returned home with them – possibly on her tired, aching feet.
But who was it that purchased this pair of “Grover’s Soft Shoes for Tender Feet” in 1910?
Here are some things that we know.
• A Grover catalog and a receipt for a pair of Grover Shoes from the Charles I. Clark store, located at 1567 Broadway, were found during the demolition phase of the 2012 renovation of 738 Macon Street.
• Both catalog and receipt date from 1910, when the Mullers were living in the house.
• Although the Muller’s rented to boarders, it was on the second floor where the Muller’s lived that the catalog and receipt were discovered.
• There were three women in the household at the time: Mrs. Muller, and her two daughters, Glencora, 23, and Flossie, 20.
It can be sensibly deduced that Glencora and Flossie, both in the flower of their youth, would not have needed – likely, they would not have wanted – a sensible shoe for tired feet. Then, as now, young ladies were more into form over function, and would likely not have been attracted to the Grover shoe line.
Which leaves Mrs. Sophia Muller, who was 42 at the time, and was most likely to have needed such shoes.
Elementary, my dear Muller! Elementary!
The Grover catalog and receipt for a pair of shoes, were discovered together in the 2nd floor front hall dressing room, which had been connected to Adolph and Sophia Muller’s bedroom from 1901-1919. The two documents had been wedged behind the shelf of the cabinet over a dressing hall sink.
ALL CATALOG/RECEIPT PICTURES: Robin Lester Kenton
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