John W. Thomas & Co. (Minneapolis, Minn.).

John W. Thomas & Co. was a Minneapolis retailer of dry goods, women's apparel, men's furnishings, fine furniture, rugs and draperies, and interior decorations. The firm was begun as G. W. Hale [or George W. Hale] in 1867, in a small store building located on Washington Avenue near Nicollet Avenue in Minneapolis. George's brother James M. Hale joined the business in 1872, and the name of the firm became George W. Hale & Co. The store moved to a building located at Nicollet Avenue and Third Street at about that time.

Winona dry goods merchant John W. Thomas joined the firm in 1883, and the business became Hale, Thomas & Co. A new store building known as the Sidle Block was completed in 1884 at Nicollet Avenue and Fifth Street. Thomas eventually bought out the Hale interests, and in 1894 the firm name was changed to John W. Thomas & Co.

The Sidle Block proved inadequate in a few years and in 1900 the firm moved into the new Andrus Building, which was built literally around the Sidle Block at Nicollet Avenue and Fifth Street (this building may also have been briefly known as the "Arlington Building"). The firm constructed a new building for itself at 801 Nicollet in 1907-1908, which it occupied until the mid-1960s. This building was demolished around 1970.

John W. Thomas, Sr. died in July 1916, and his son John W. Thomas, Jr., succeeded him as president of the firm. The company was in receivership in 1922-1923, and was financially reorganized in 1932-1933. New management took charge in 1934. The firm purchased E. E. Atkinson & Co., a competing Minneapolis specialty retailer, in 1936.

In 1952 John W. Thomas & Co. opened a fur shop in St. Paul, located at 63 East Sixth Street. Its manager reported to Benjamin Dranow, who was at that time managing director for all fur operations for John W. Thomas & Co. Dranow was also a long-time associate of and financial advisor to Teamsters president James R. (Jimmy) Hoffa. In 1956 Dranow acquired all of the outstanding stock of the firm. Financial irregularities involving Dranow are outlined in a 1958 report to John W. Thomas & Co. creditors, and Dranow was eventually convicted of mail fraud (1961) and of tax evasion/income tax fraud (1962) and sentenced to prison. The company was in bankruptcy by 1959, when Stanley D. Smith, president of Gift House Stamps, was brought in as president to try to resuscitate it. Smith was apparently successful. It is unclear what became of John W. Thomas & Co., but the firm last appears in the 1964/1965 Minneapolis city directory.

John W. Thomas was born in Steuben, Oneida County, New York on January 14, 1844. He moved with his parents to Bangor, Wisconsin when he was in his teens, and attended Sparta Academy (Sparta, Wis.). Thomas began his business career in Winona, Minnesota in 1865 as manager of the N. H. Wood dry goods store. In 1871 he went into the dry goods business for himself in Winona, where he remained until moving to Minneapolis in 1883 to join George and James Hale in the dry goods business. He was a member of Westminster Presbyterian Church, Minneapolis, for 25 years, and was for many years an elder in the congregation. Thomas died July 29, 1916, and was buried in Lakewood Cemetery, Minneapolis. He and his wife Jennett had two daughters, Eleanor (or Nellie) and Alice, and a son, John W. Thomas, Jr. Thomas, Jr. was not associated with the firm after 1921.

The above information was taken from a variety of sources, including Twin Cities Then and Now by Larry Millett (1996), and from newspaper clippings and other materials found within the collection.

From the guide to the Company records., 1867-1969 (bulk 1898-1960)., (Minnesota Historical Society)