WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES NOVEMBER 18, 2021 35
OUR NEIGHBORHOOD: THE WAY IT WAS
Ridgewood to Long Island years ago. You can still
fi nd a jar of Bauer’s mustard at local meat markets
and delis, and online at abauersmustard.com.
In 1907, Valentine Steuber opened his pickle factory
at 2806 Myrtle Ave., Glendale, on the south
side of the street between Commercial Street
(later called Fosdick Avenue and now 69th Street)
and DeBoo Place (now 68th Street). It had been a
blacksmith’s shop and then Herman Sonntag’s
wheelwright shop.
Today, many shoppers go to the supermarket
and push a shopping cart around, grabbing whatever
they need while strolling up one aisle aft er another.
But before the age of the supermarket, our
neighborhood had plenty of smaller businesses
where shoppers picked up what they needed every
week.
THE BUTCHER, THE BAKER AND
THE SUPERMARKET MAKER
Who were some of the stores that served our
area?
Andrew Kehl, who was born in Balinghausen,
Germany, in 1874, came to America and settled in
Glendale in 1895. He opened a butcher shop at 2512
Myrtle Ave. and, by 1912, opened a second shop
on the north side of Myrtle Avenue, between
Parkview Avenue (now 80th Street) and Dry Harbor
Road (now 81st Street).
By 1906, Frederick Blankenhorn had opened his
butcher shop in Glendale on the corner of Cooper
Avenue and Tompkins Avenue (now 70th Street).
Then there was Henry C. Bohack, who was born
in Germany in 1865, came to America in 1882 and
opened his fi rst grocery store in 1887. By 1915, he
had about 20 stores.
In 1924, Bohack opened the forerunner of a
modern-day supermarket with a store at the
northeast corner of Sprague Street (now 76th
Street) and Myrtle Avenue in Glendale that sold
groceries, meat, fruit and vegetables, bread and
dairy products, all under one roof.
HEADING TO THE CHECKOUT LINE
How much were the goods you wanted more
than a century ago? Get ready to read and weep.
In 1906 in Ridgewood, one could fi nd freshly
ground coff ee selling for 15 cents a pound. Bacon
was 13 cents per pound, and butter retailed for 18
cents per pound. You could get a dozen eggs for
12 cents.
By 1909, grocers were selling loose milk for 6
cents a quart, and heavy whipping cream for 20
cents a point. Local bakers such as John Schmid,
who had a bakery at the southwest corner of
Myrtle Avenue and Webster Avenue (now 71st
Street), sold a baker’s dozen (13) rolls or buns for 10
cents. He delivered the hot rolls and buns freshly
made to his customer’s home early each morning.
In June 1912, butcher shops catering to betterpaying
customers sold sirloin steak for 33 cents a
pound. A week earlier, it had been 30 cents; a year
earlier, it was 23 cents.
By 1912, New York City was consuming 2 million
quarts of milk per day, and it took 150,000 cows to
supply the city. However, the farmers upstate were
not very happy with the price they were getting for
their milk. In the summer, they were being paid
11 cents a gallon, and in the winter, that price rose
to 14 cents a gallon. The consumer at the grocery
store was paying 8 cents per quart in the summer
and 9 cents per quart in the winter.
In July 1917, the U.S. government published a
report that showed that food prices in the previous
The exterior of a Bohack supermarket in Kew Gardens in the 1940s.
Photo via Wikimedia Commons/Dumbodude
A 1930 ad for Bohack supermarket shows the price of ordinary food items back then.
10 years had risen much faster than wages. They
cited a railroad worker earning $1.40 a day in 1917
working a 10-hour day, six days per week. By 1916,
that worker was getting $1.62.5 cents per day for a
9-hour, 40-minute day, six days per week.
In 1907, $5 bought 50 pounds of food, but by
1917, that same amount of cash only bought 35
pounds; inflation had caused a 15 percent cut
in wages over that 10-year period.
Sources: the April 4 and April 11, 1985,
Ridgewood Times.
* * *
If you have any remembrances or old photographs
of “Our Neighborhood: The Way It Was”
that you would like to share with our readers,
please write to the Old Timer, c/o Ridgewood
Times, 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361, or send
an email to editorial@ridgewoodtimes.com. Any
print photographs mailed to us will be carefully
returned to you upon request.
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