Posted By:
Andy BaranHal,
We still do not have a definitive answer. If they operated a corporate office or mail order office on Ann Street, it is possible that they closed the office, and moved the office into the Nassau Street location some time before May 1870. After all, wouldn't it make sense to send a bill to a corporate office (or PO Box if they existed) rather than to a retail establishment if such an office existed? We know that they were the largest Sporting Goods Mail Order company, so having an office for this purpose may have made perfect sense. This would easily explain it, without the 2 store theory (which I am not willing to rule out either, since no one is alive today that was there to verify this). We can think of many possible scenarios here. What if we were to find the Nassau street location mentioned prior to 1869 (which is entirely possible)? Then what? We now know that whatever was at the Ann Street location was gone by May 1870, but we really don't know exactly when the Nassau Street location opened. Believe me, I know this is splitting hairs. I originally posted this because I thought it was interesting that there are 2 addresses, and hoped it would fuel some good discussions (which it did). I never expected to get a definitive answer, and I still don't believe that we have one. Short of finding a accurate company history (not sure if it exists) or inventing a time machine, the only thing that I am sure of is that we will never know for sure.