When I learned that the Goldwaters of Arizona had seen fit to resurrect the family department store name and logo by opening a mail-order gourmet food company, my cousins and I decided to return life to our family names as well.
I am in the process of donating the Vipperman building to Alabama Central University for the expansion of their business school. My cousins, the heirs of the Loudermilk ; Reinhardt Company are doing the same thing. I just got off the phone with Clarice and asked her if she had received a letter from Dr. Bahnson. She informed me that both she and Eva L. had gotten the same letter.
Clarice and Eva Loudermilk were the granddaughters of Uncle Rudolf. It is they who now own the L;R building and are donating it to the university.
I didn’t ask her if he requested that they provide lectures. Unless he wanted to hear about loser husbands, multiple failed marriages and profanities that would make a sailor blush, he needn’t bother.
The nine-story Vipperman building and the seven story L;R building will provide the university with much needed room for growth and inject new life into downtown Brockman.
In a quid pro quo, I had three stipulations; my Loudermilk cousins had two. (I got more because my building was taller.)
1. I will continue to maintain the apartment in which I grew up on the ninth floor.
2.A retail management and fashion merchandising curriculum including the rise and fall of the ?Main Street? American department store will be developed. The school will, recreate on the building’s first floor, a museum of sorts with a permanent exhibit of 20th century department store historical memorabilia. As closely as possible, it will replicate the way the main floor of Vipperman’s looked during its heyday of the 1940s. On the mezzanine will be a ?Century of Fashion? display; something on the order of the First Ladies’ gowns at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC. I will donate my wardrobe from the past sixty plus years and a curator would be hired to manage, oversee and change the displays on a regular basis. I want future generations to realize that real clothes existed before they were made extinct by blue jeans, t-shirts and flip-flops.
3.The Loudermilk girls required that the “StarLite Roof” restaurant be restored and re-opened on the top floor of their building It is to be staffed and operated by the university; providing part-time jobs for students.
4.We all required that the outside of both buildings be restored to their respective 1946 and 1954 facades.
The last construction on Vipperman’s was in 1946, following World War II. When this building was originally constructed in the 1920s, it was ornate with scroll-work and carvings as well as lots of mosaic tile. In the tile there many repetitious shapes, patterns and symbols used to give color and uniqueness to the building, including a repetitive swastika in the mosaic tile pattern. This was prior to Hitler’s forever demonizing that ancient symbol.
I am told that the word “swastika” comes from the Sanskrit svastika??su? meaning “good,” “asti” meaning “to be,” and “ka” as a suffix. For over 3,000 years the symbol was used by diverse cultures meaning life, power good luck and strength. In World War I, American service divisions as well as the Finnish Air Force used the symbol. In those days, it was not uncommon to see the swastika on cigarette cases, coins, postcards and, of course, buildings. The New Mexico State University yearbook was called the ?Swastika?.There are many United States buildings built through the 1930s that have swastikas in their architecture which are now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. As a matter of fact, one of the first suburbs of Brockman was called ?Swastika? as was a community in Canada near Toronto. During World War II, the government of Ontario attempted to change the name; however, having been founded in 1906, the residents mounted a campaign and took the stand, ?To hell with Hitler, We came up with our name first!?
Something as simple as ?tile work? on an American building took on a sinister meaning to the Germanic immigrants of Brockman, Alabama when the news of the Nazi atrocities and the Third Reich began to be told in America. Papa condemned everything happening in Germany, and had the tile work on the building boarded over, and thus it remained until after the war when materials were available to enlarge and remodel the store. The “new” Vipperman’s of the late 1940s was beautiful with round corners and lots of glass blocks. Papa was enthralled with the May Company building in California and the new Vipperman?s resembled that wonderful architectural masterpiece.
I remember the many times I heard all three families lamenting the shame they felt because of the happenings in their ?fatherland?. Having experienced the same emotions during World War I, the Loudermilch family Americanized their name to Loudermilk in 1915.
L;R was remodeled and enlarged in 1954 with an “Ultra Modern” look including chrome and pink granite.
If the buildings had been automobiles, Vipperman?s would have been a 1948 Lincoln Continental and Loudermilk ; Reinhardt would have been a 1959 Cadillac.
In the 1970s, when both stores opened branches in DeSoto Mall, the downtown stores eventually closed and were leased as office space to various tenants. In the time of polyester leisure suits, avocado green and harvest gold kitchens and huge boxy automobiles that guzzled rationed gasoline, the outside of both buildings were covered with metal panels, making them look more like the boxes they came in than the architectural jewels they were. My cousins and I have turned down many offers to purchase the buildings over the years, and now we are all glad we did.
My great-uncles Adolf Reinhardt and Rudolf Loudermilch, Prussian immigrants, took over a closed general store and created The Loudermilch ; Reinhardt Company, the first major department store in Brockman, Alabama. My grandfather, the “adopted” brother of Adolf arrived in America with them and everyone worked side by side from the very beginning.
Rudolf was a wise-ass and always knew more than anybody else on any given subject. He was a gambler without peer; he would make book on whether the sun would rise in the east or west or if grass would turn red on Tuesday. Obviously, he was a gambler; not a winner. Even card playing could quickly turned into a ballyhoo that would make a cockfight seem civil. One evening, Uncle Rudolf was embroiled in a high stakes poker game with Grandpapa and two other men. His losses were enormous and he was determined to win back what he had lost. However, he had no cash left to neither bet nor ante up his losses. My grandfather teased Uncle Rudolf unmercifully–as always; and, Uncle Rudolf was incensed–as always.
Loudermilch & Reinhardt had just purchased a building across the street from their present location for the purpose of expanding.
Ignoring the protests of the other three, Rudolf, foolishly offered up the building to secure his bet. The three confederated and agreed if he was that stupid, they would show no mercy, not if Uncle Rudy lost, but when.
In a matter of minutes, Uncle Rudy lost the property to Grandpapa. It took about ten seconds for the full impact of his actions to register. The story is that he cried, screamed, threatened to kill Grandpapa, threatened to kill himself and begged Grandpapa to understand that he wasn’t really serious about the bet.
Grandpapa had put up with Rudolf and his know-it-all ways for long enough and was determined to teach him a lesson. He immediately made Rudy tell Uncle Adolf that they no longer owned the property across the street. When the dust had settled (and a lot of dust was kicked up between Adolf and Rudolf), Vipperman’s Department Store rose like a phoenix from the ashes of the hell that Uncle Adolf put Uncle Rudolf through. And from that moment, the birth of Vipperman?s, most assuredly caused Uncle Rudy labor pains that he endured for the rest of his life from both Uncle Adolf and Grandpapa.
Fortunately, the girls, Dora, Gerta and Hildegard never let the boy?s rivalry become anything but good spirited and the families remained very close.
As the family businesses grew, the only children of the families to remain in the department store business were Dora and Adolf?s son Frederick and the only surviving child of Gerta and Rudolf, Paul. Paul was the father of Clarice and Eva L.
When I learned that the Goldwaters of Arizona had seen fit to resurrect the family department store name and logo by opening a mail-order gourmet food company, my cousins and I decided to return life to our family names as well.
I am in the process of donating the Vipperman building to Alabama Central University for the expansion of their business school. My cousins, the heirs of the Loudermilk & Reinhardt Company are doing the same thing.
I just got off the phone with Clarice and asked her if she had received a letter from Dr. Bahnson. She informed me that both she and Eva L. had gotten the same letter.
Clarice and Eva Loudermilk were the granddaughters of Uncle Rudolf. It is they who now own the L&R building and are donating it to the university.
I didn’t ask her if he requested that they provide lectures. Unless he wanted to hear about loser husbands, multiple failed marriages and profanities that would make a sailor blush, he needn’t bother.
The nine-story Vipperman building and the seven story L&R building will provide the university with much needed room for growth and inject new life into downtown Brockman.
In a quid pro quo, I had three stipulations; my Loudermilk cousins had two. (I got more because my building was taller.)
1. I will continue to maintain the apartment in which I grew up on the ninth floor.
2.A retail management and fashion merchandising curriculum including the rise and fall of the ?Main Street? American department store will be developed. The school will, recreate on the building’s first floor, a museum of sorts with a permanent exhibit of 20th century department store historical memorabilia. As closely as possible, it will replicate the way the main floor of Vipperman’s looked during its heyday of the 1940s. On the mezzanine will be a ?Century of Fashion? display; something on the order of the First Ladies’ gowns at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC. I will donate my wardrobe from the past sixty plus years and a curator would be hired to manage, oversee and change the displays on a regular basis. I want future generations to realize that real clothes existed before they were made extinct by blue jeans, t-shirts and flip-flops.
3.The Loudermilk girls required that the “StarLite Roof” restaurant be restored and re-opened on the top floor of their building It is to be staffed and operated by the university; providing part-time jobs for students.
4.We all required that the outside of both buildings be restored to their respective 1946 and 1954 facades.
The last construction on Vipperman’s was in 1946, following World War II. When this building was originally constructed in the 1920s, it was ornate with scroll-work and carvings as well as lots of mosaic tile. In the tile there many repetitious shapes, patterns and symbols used to give color and uniqueness to the building, including a repetitive swastika in the mosaic tile pattern. This was prior to Hitler’s forever demonizing that ancient symbol.
I am told that the word “swastika” comes from the Sanskrit svastika??su? meaning “good,” “asti” meaning “to be,” and “ka” as a suffix. For over 3,000 years the symbol was used by diverse cultures meaning life, power good luck and strength. In World War I, American service divisions as well as the Finnish Air Force used the symbol. In those days, it was not uncommon to see the swastika on cigarette cases, coins, postcards and, of course, buildings. The New Mexico State University yearbook was called the ?Swastika?.There are many United States buildings built through the 1930s that have swastikas in their architecture which are now listed on the National Register of Historic Places. As a matter of fact, one of the first suburbs of Brockman was called ?Swastika? as was a community in Canada near Toronto. During World War II, the government of Ontario attempted to change the name; however, having been founded in 1906, the residents mounted a campaign and took the stand, ?To hell with Hitler, We came up with our name first!?
Something as simple as ?tile work? on an American building took on a sinister meaning to the Germanic immigrants of Brockman, Alabama when the news of the Nazi atrocities and the Third Reich began to be told in America. Papa condemned everything happening in Germany, and had the tile work on the building boarded over, and thus it remained until after the war when materials were available to enlarge and remodel the store. The “new” Vipperman’s of the late 1940s was beautiful with round corners and lots of glass blocks. Papa was enthralled with the May Company building in California and the new Vipperman?s resembled that wonderful architectural masterpiece.
I remember the many times I heard all three families lamenting the shame they felt because of the happenings in their ?fatherland?. Having experienced the same emotions during World War I, the Loudermilch family Americanized their name to Loudermilk in 1915.
L&R was remodeled and enlarged in 1954 with an “Ultra Modern” look including chrome and pink granite.
If the buildings had been automobiles, Vipperman?s would have been a 1948 Lincoln Continental and Loudermilk & Reinhardt would have been a 1959 Cadillac.
In the 1970s, when both stores opened branches in DeSoto Mall, the downtown stores eventually closed and were leased as office space to various tenants. In the time of polyester leisure suits, avocado green and harvest gold kitchens and huge boxy automobiles that guzzled rationed gasoline, the outside of both buildings were covered with metal panels, making them look more like the boxes they came in than the architectural jewels they were. My cousins and I have turned down many offers to purchase the buildings over the years, and now we are all glad we did.
My great-uncles Adolf Reinhardt and Rudolf Loudermilch, Prussian immigrants, took over a closed general store and created The Loudermilch & Reinhardt Company, the first major department store in Brockman, Alabama. My grandfather, the “adopted” brother of Adolf arrived in America with them and everyone worked side by side from the very beginning.
Rudolf was a wise-ass and always knew more than anybody else on any given subject. He was a gambler without peer; he would make book on whether the sun would rise in the east or west or if grass would turn red on Tuesday. Obviously, he was a gambler; not a winner. Even card playing could quickly turned into a ballyhoo that would make a cockfight seem civil. One evening, Uncle Rudolf was embroiled in a high stakes poker game with Grandpapa and two other men. His losses were enormous and he was determined to win back what he had lost. However, he had no cash left to neither bet nor ante up his losses. My grandfather teased Uncle Rudolf unmercifully–as always; and, Uncle Rudolf was incensed–as always.
Loudermilch & Reinhardt had just purchased a building across the street from their present location for the purpose of expanding.
Ignoring the protests of the other three, Rudolf, foolishly offered up the building to secure his bet. The three confederated and agreed if he was that stupid, they would show no mercy, not if Uncle Rudy lost, but when.
In a matter of minutes, Uncle Rudy lost the property to Grandpapa. It took about ten seconds for the full impact of his actions to register. The story is that he cried, screamed, threatened to kill Grandpapa, threatened to kill himself and begged Grandpapa to understand that he wasn’t really serious about the bet.
Grandpapa had put up with Rudolf and his know-it-all ways for long enough and was determined to teach him a lesson. He immediately made Rudy tell Uncle Adolf that they no longer owned the property across the street. When the dust had settled (and a lot of dust was kicked up between Adolf and Rudolf), Vipperman’s Department Store rose like a phoenix from the ashes of the hell that Uncle Adolf put Uncle Rudolf through. And from that moment, the birth of Vipperman?s, most assuredly caused Uncle Rudy labor pains that he endured for the rest of his life from both Uncle Adolf and Grandpapa.
Fortunately, the girls, Dora, Gerta and Hildegard never let the boy?s rivalry become anything but good spirited and the families remained very close.
As the family businesses grew, the only children of the families to remain in the department store business were Dora and Adolf?s son Frederick and the only surviving child of Gerta and Rudolf, Paul. Paul was the father of Clarice and Eva L.
