Morris Rosenheim
Values Codes I – E – L
Morris Rosenheim was born near Stuttgart, Germany, in 1827.
He came to America in 1849, at the age of 22.
Along the way . . . .
In 1851, Morris Rosenheim returned to Germany to marry his sweetheart, Matilda Ottenheimer (b.1831), and then returned to America with her.
The Rosenheims lived in Philadelphia, where Morris worked for a mercantile firm with his brother.
St. Louis
In 1853, Morris and Matilda Rosenheim moved to St. Louis, Missouri.
Morris Rosenheim created a millinery firm called Rosenheim & Cook on Main Street.
Soon, he expanded the firm with partners Leo Levis and W. A. Zukoski.
vintage ladies’ hat
The firm was renamed Rosenheim, Levis & Zukoski Mercantile Company.
They eventually moved the successful business to four adjoining seven-story buildings on Washington Avenue.
Rosenheim Hat, photo sent via Facebook by a visitor, but we lost her name
In 1893, Rosenheim retired and the firm was renamed Levis-Zukoski Mercantile Company.
Family
Morris Rosenheim married Matilda Ottenheimer in 1851.
The couple had ten children: Otto Rosenheim (b.1853), Tillie Othelia Kahn (b.1855), Rosa Rosenheim (b.1860), Alfred Rosenheim (1859-1943), Robert Faist Rosenheim (1861-1948), Ralph Rosenheim (b.1863), Clara Thekia Rosenheim (b.1865), Phillip Rosenheim (b.1867), Samuel Faist Rosenheim (b.1869) and Estella Rosenheim (b.1873).
Robert Rosenheim, who had joined his father in the millinery business, eventually opened R. F. Rosenheim Toggery Co. in 1899.
Alfred Rosenheim became an architect, eventually settling in Los Angeles where he designed the Herman W. Hellman Building and Hamburger’s Department Store.
Morris Rosenheim died in 1906.
He is buried in the New Mount Sinai Cemetery & Mausoleum.
Sources
- Walter Ehrlich, Zion in the Valley: The Jewish Community of St. Louis,Volume 1 (Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 1997).
- Ellen Jane Freund Schwartz, Freund Family Chronicles (St. Louis, MO: 1992).
Samantha Silver is curator of this Morris Rosenheim exhibit.