The S. Korach Company (1902-1935) was a ready-to-wear dress and skirt manufacturing company. Just prior to its closing, S. Korach Company employed close to 500 people and operated a plant at 2400 Superior Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio, and a plant in Ashtabula, Ohio. It also maintained an office and showroom at 498 Seventh Avenue in New York City. Among its major customers were the May Company in Cleveland and Marshall-Fields in Chicago, Illinois. Sigmund Korach (1873-1934), the founder of the S. Korach Company, was a Jewish immigrant from Fritsch, Siroka, Slovakia, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He arrived in the United States in the 1880s and settled in Cleveland, Ohio, in 1897. In Cleveland, Korach first sold crockery at 844 Lorain Avenue before operating a succession of short-lived garment businesses. His first business in 1898 was in partnership with Harry hertz in Hertz and Korach, ladies tailors at 145 Bank Street. An S. Korach and Company followed in 1899. Founded by Korach and his uncle Eugene Korach, it manufactured clothing at 78 Bank Street. In 1900-1901, Korach, his uncle Eugene, and Philip Better operated Korach, Better and Company, cloak manufacturers, at 6 Lake Avenue. In 1902 Sigmund Korach founded the S. Korach Company at 24 Lake Avenue. the company relocated to 801 Lakeside Avenue, then to 1217 West 9th Street and, 1913, to 2400 Superior Avenue where it remained. Just prior to the closing of the S. Korach Company in 1935, another plant was located in Ashtabula. It is not known when this plant began operation or its exact address. by the late 1920s, the S. Korach Company was completely family run. Sigmund was president and treasurer, half-brothers Charles and Leo served as vice-presidents, and half-brother Benjamin W. served as office manager. Other Korachs involved in the business were son Arthur as secretary, second cousin Joseph f., uncle Eugene J., and father Jacob.
The S. Korach Company Records, 1898-1987, consist primarily of financial and legal documents. the records also contain blueprints of the 2400 Superior property and a 1987 description and valuation analysis of that property.
This collection is of interest to researchers studying the garment industry in the United States in general and Cleveland, Ohio, in particular in the twentieth century.
The collection is arranged alphabetically by document type and then chronologically.
Processed by Stanley Lasky in 1995.
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[Container ___, Folder ___ ] MS 4694 S. Korach Company Records, Western Reserve Historical Society, Cleveland, Ohio
Tony Zucker, 1993.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog.