The death of David L. Emerson Oct. 10 prompted me to reflect on the Emerson family and descendants of the industrialist and phil-anthropist Fred L. Emerson. The contributions to the residents of Cayuga County by this family and the foundation that continues the work of its founder since 1932 are so numerous I cannot list all of them here.
I can say we all have benefited from the generosity and civic spirit of the Emerson family.
People of my parents' generation remember the trips to Enna Jettick Park in the 1930s. They attended the boxing matches and the dances where the big name bands such as Tommy Dorsey played for the throngs. Now called Emerson Park, it was a haven for the factory workers with their families, who would come on the weekends for a day at the beach or happy times on Deauville Island.
The pictures shown here are of Fred L. Emerson. One as a young man, and the other taken when he was known as a “Pioneer World Traveler.”
From The Citizen archives comes the following quote: “Traveling completely around the world on regularly operated air lines, to keep business appointments in 19 countries, Fred L. Emerson, shoe manufacturer of Auburn, arrived at Honolulu this morning on Pan American Airways Hawaii Clipper after an overnight flight across the Pacific from San Francisco. Mr. Emerson and nine other passengers were the first to fly on the new air service which this flight inaugurated between the U.S. and China.”
The Coast Shoe Reporter printed a article written by Fred Emerson in November of 1934 on this new way of encouraging business travel and stated, “Fred L. Emerson was one of the first if not THE first in the shoe business to use air travel. He journeyed by air when it was unheard of, in fact if memory serves, he at one time made the fastest trip of any individual using commercial airlines around the world.”
Fred L Emerson wrote: “What I am writing now hasn't much of anything to do with Enna Jettick shoes, but I thought some of the readers of the Coast Shoe Reporter might be interested in knowing, from a practical experience, the progress that is being made in this country on passenger transportation by air.”
He went on to describe a business meeting to correct “some business problems in stores in California” with a supplier and wrote, “I had my lunch in Auburn, Oct. 5, and I had my dinner in Auburn, Oct. 7, and in the meantime spent 15 hours on Saturday in Los Angeles with other store owners.
“On the way out, I visited the Davis store in Chicago, and on the return trip my plane stopped at Wichita, Kan. where I met another salesman who met me on Sunday morning with the editor of the Wichita Eagle, with others in the welcoming group. This was at 7 a.m.”
He began his trip by driving to Buffalo and took an American Airlines plane to Chicago. He changed there to “a new Douglas plane on the T.W.A. This plane made two stops on the way to Los Angeles - Kansas City and Albuquerque, N.M.”
He continued, “The flying time from Buffalo to Los Angeles was 16 hours and the air mile distance was 2,388 miles. The railroad mileage from Buffalo to Los Angeles was 2,830 miles, and the best time I could have made on the fastest train would have been 66 hours.”
He concluded, “We must take our hats off to the rapid development that is occurring in the aviation field and to the personnel that builds the ships, to the government officials who make all of this possible through their weather reports, lighted airways, etc. and above all to the skillful pilots who operate the planes. The natural elements of weather-fog, etc. seem to be about the only handicaps for making air transportation a huge success, but it looks as if the solution of these insurmountable perils is being worked out.”
I can provide a copy of his travelogue, in his handwriting of the trips he took from 1914 to the world trip in 1937 to 1944 , when I suspect the war ceased his travels. Please send a self addressed stamped envelope to Owasco Historian, 2 Bristol Ave., Auburn, NY for a copy of his notes.
Known as an Ad man, a tribute to Fred Emerson from E. B. Weiss said, “I remember well Fred Emerson whose genius built the Enna Jettick shoe business into a fabulous success. He was as keen a advertising man as ever trod Madison Avenue.”
Fred drew on his experience from his youth, and said, “My first job as a boy was with James Means who was the first shoe manufacturer to stamp his name on a shoe and advertise the same and he did quite a wonderful business for those days, but he conceived the idea that he and his shoes were well enough known that the sales would continue without advertising. My last job with him was in helping to liquidate the business.”
He explained, “I was talking to the owner of a successful shoe shop that opened 10 months ago. He tells me he has never skipped a single week in running newspaper advertisement, and we know that we have never let down a minute in our advertising and I am sold on this fact.”
In 1944, he promoted the following types of shoes for women: walking types, gypsy types, nurses, housemaids and nuns, “softie” types, afternoon shoes for matrons and housemaids. Fred L. Emerson promised in His Creed for Dunn & McCarthy in 1944 to the wearer, “To be given perfect fit, good wear, good appearance and courteous skillful fitting service.”
In closing, his son William M. Emerson, in 1952, succeeded in finding the source of one of his fathers favorite quotes after writing Kiplinger Magazine and Forbes Magazine. It sums up the qualities of one of Auburn's and Cayuga's most respected businessmen:
“I am a great believer in luck. The harder I work, the more of it I seem to have.”
Forbes replied with the answer attributing the quote to Coleman Cox.
- Sources: Stationary and letters by F.L. Emerson and Enna Jettick Shoe promotional material
Laurel Auchampaugh is the
Owasco historian and can be reached at the Owasco Town Hall from
1 to 4 p.m. Tuesday or at
owascohistorian@centralny.twcbc.com
People of my parents' generation remember the trips to Enna Jettick Park in the 1930s. They attended the boxing matches and the dances where the big name bands such as Tommy Dorsey played for the throngs. Now called Emerson Park, it was a haven for the factory workers with their families, who would come on the weekends for a day at the beach or happy times on Deauville Island.
The pictures shown here are of Fred L. Emerson. One as a young man, and the other taken when he was known as a “Pioneer World Traveler.”
From The Citizen archives comes the following quote: “Traveling completely around the world on regularly operated air lines, to keep business appointments in 19 countries, Fred L. Emerson, shoe manufacturer of Auburn, arrived at Honolulu this morning on Pan American Airways Hawaii Clipper after an overnight flight across the Pacific from San Francisco. Mr. Emerson and nine other passengers were the first to fly on the new air service which this flight inaugurated between the U.S. and China.”
The Coast Shoe Reporter printed a article written by Fred Emerson in November of 1934 on this new way of encouraging business travel and stated, “Fred L. Emerson was one of the first if not THE first in the shoe business to use air travel. He journeyed by air when it was unheard of, in fact if memory serves, he at one time made the fastest trip of any individual using commercial airlines around the world.”
Fred L Emerson wrote: “What I am writing now hasn't much of anything to do with Enna Jettick shoes, but I thought some of the readers of the Coast Shoe Reporter might be interested in knowing, from a practical experience, the progress that is being made in this country on passenger transportation by air.”
He went on to describe a business meeting to correct “some business problems in stores in California” with a supplier and wrote, “I had my lunch in Auburn, Oct. 5, and I had my dinner in Auburn, Oct. 7, and in the meantime spent 15 hours on Saturday in Los Angeles with other store owners.
“On the way out, I visited the Davis store in Chicago, and on the return trip my plane stopped at Wichita, Kan. where I met another salesman who met me on Sunday morning with the editor of the Wichita Eagle, with others in the welcoming group. This was at 7 a.m.”
He began his trip by driving to Buffalo and took an American Airlines plane to Chicago. He changed there to “a new Douglas plane on the T.W.A. This plane made two stops on the way to Los Angeles - Kansas City and Albuquerque, N.M.”
He continued, “The flying time from Buffalo to Los Angeles was 16 hours and the air mile distance was 2,388 miles. The railroad mileage from Buffalo to Los Angeles was 2,830 miles, and the best time I could have made on the fastest train would have been 66 hours.”
He concluded, “We must take our hats off to the rapid development that is occurring in the aviation field and to the personnel that builds the ships, to the government officials who make all of this possible through their weather reports, lighted airways, etc. and above all to the skillful pilots who operate the planes. The natural elements of weather-fog, etc. seem to be about the only handicaps for making air transportation a huge success, but it looks as if the solution of these insurmountable perils is being worked out.”
I can provide a copy of his travelogue, in his handwriting of the trips he took from 1914 to the world trip in 1937 to 1944 , when I suspect the war ceased his travels. Please send a self addressed stamped envelope to Owasco Historian, 2 Bristol Ave., Auburn, NY for a copy of his notes.
Known as an Ad man, a tribute to Fred Emerson from E. B. Weiss said, “I remember well Fred Emerson whose genius built the Enna Jettick shoe business into a fabulous success. He was as keen a advertising man as ever trod Madison Avenue.”
Fred drew on his experience from his youth, and said, “My first job as a boy was with James Means who was the first shoe manufacturer to stamp his name on a shoe and advertise the same and he did quite a wonderful business for those days, but he conceived the idea that he and his shoes were well enough known that the sales would continue without advertising. My last job with him was in helping to liquidate the business.”
He explained, “I was talking to the owner of a successful shoe shop that opened 10 months ago. He tells me he has never skipped a single week in running newspaper advertisement, and we know that we have never let down a minute in our advertising and I am sold on this fact.”
In 1944, he promoted the following types of shoes for women: walking types, gypsy types, nurses, housemaids and nuns, “softie” types, afternoon shoes for matrons and housemaids. Fred L. Emerson promised in His Creed for Dunn & McCarthy in 1944 to the wearer, “To be given perfect fit, good wear, good appearance and courteous skillful fitting service.”
In closing, his son William M. Emerson, in 1952, succeeded in finding the source of one of his fathers favorite quotes after writing Kiplinger Magazine and Forbes Magazine. It sums up the qualities of one of Auburn's and Cayuga's most respected businessmen:
“I am a great believer in luck. The harder I work, the more of it I seem to have.”
Forbes replied with the answer attributing the quote to Coleman Cox.
- Sources: Stationary and letters by F.L. Emerson and Enna Jettick Shoe promotional material
Laurel Auchampaugh is the
Owasco historian and can be reached at the Owasco Town Hall from
1 to 4 p.m. Tuesday or at
owascohistorian@centralny.twcbc.com
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