1300 Block of Assembly Street
Early Jewish Enterprises
By the late 19th century, this block featured a mix of African American and Jewish-owned businesses. Among the earliest Jews to establish themselves here were Austrian immigrants Henry Steele (1838-1908), a jeweler and the first president of the Tree of Life Congregation, and his wife, Ricca (b. 1851), who ran a general merchandise store at 1328 Assembly Street. By 1904, masonry buildings had replaced earlier wooden structures, and other Jews had opened businesses, including shoe salesman Joseph Levy (1864-1947) and cobblers Barnett (1876-1943) and Abram Berry (b. 1873). In the following decades the next generation of these families opened a variety of other ventures including dry goods, liquor, pawn and Army-Navy stores. Among them was Levy’s son, Moe (1899-1974), who in 1921 opened Moe Levy’s Dry Goods at 1302 Assembly Street. He consolidated his businesses, including a loan department, at this location by 1927, where it remained in operation until 2014.
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Moe Levy outside his store on Assembly Street, 1968. Image courtesy Special Collections, College of Charleston Libraries
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Moe Levy and Morris Chaplin inside Moe Levy's Dry Goods, 1928. Levy's was the first business in Columbia to sell Levi's 501 jeans. Image courtesy Special Collections, College of Charleston Libraries
