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Charles Giese Residence - Historic site in Poplar Bluff, Missouri, 1910s

Image courtesy of Walter H. Kennedy souvenir publication, 1908, inscribed "Chas. Giese"

Lost to History
Residential

Charles Giese Residence

625 Poplar Street, Poplar Bluff, Missouri

The Poplar Street home of merchant tailor Charles Giese and his family, documented in city directories from the early 1900s and still occupied by his widow after his death in 1921.

Did You Know?

In 1913, the Giese daughters Mazo, Bertha and Lorine hosted a reception for visiting university students at the family home on Poplar Street.

The Story

The tailor's house on Poplar Street

City directories of the early twentieth century place Charles Giese, his wife Jonnie, and their family at 625 Poplar Street. The address appears in the 1906 and 1908 directories, again in the 1909-1910 Dunham directory, and in a 1911 listing that also records the tailoring shop at 415 South Fourth Street. The house stood apart from the business: the shop was downtown on Fourth Street, and later Main Street, while the family lived on Poplar.

A family address

The household appears frequently in local newspapers of the period. In 1913, the Giese daughters Mazo, Bertha and Lorine hosted a reception for visiting university students at the family home on Poplar Street.

After Giese

Charles Giese died on July 15, 1921. Jonnie Giese continued to be associated with the residence at 625 Poplar Street in the directories that followed, and the address remained the family's recorded home.

The two surviving photographs

Two views of a frame house survive among the Walter H. Kennedy souvenir photographs: one dated 1908, and one undated. Both are inscribed "Chas. Giese" in a contemporary hand, and the inscriber's spelling is preserved here as written. Earlier cataloguing filed these views under the similar name Charles Gierse, the tailor and cleaner at 410 Vine Street, a separate man whose own residence stood on North Main Street; the inscription and the family's documented address place them with Charles Giese.

The photographs carry the inscriber's identification and no other. The directory entries establish where the family lived; the two records are presented together here as the surviving visual record of that house, with that distinction kept intact.

The site today

The residence is recorded here as no longer standing. The present condition of the lot at 625 Poplar Street has not been verified.

Gallery

People Connected to This Site

Charles William Giese

Merchant tailor

Charles William Giese was a German-born merchant tailor who operated one of Poplar Bluff's longstanding clothing establishments during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Born in Mannheim, Germany, in 1861, Giese immigrated to the United States as a young man. Genealogical records give differing immigration years, including 1874 and 1880. By the early 1880s, he had established family connections in Missouri, marrying Jonnie Cole in Iron County on December 6, 1882. Giese became an established figure in Poplar Bluff's clothing trade. A December 8, 1898, profile in the Poplar Bluff Republican described him as the city's oldest merchant tailor and identified his establishment on Fourth Street. His business offered custom-made clothing using imported and domestic fabrics. In October 1909, Giese advertised new fall suitings at his establishment at 415 South Fourth Street. An accompanying newspaper account stated that he had been conducting business in Poplar Bluff for approximately twenty-five years, suggesting a business history reaching back to the mid-1880s. In September 1912, Giese moved his tailoring establishment from Fourth Street to a renovated storefront on Main Street, previously occupied by August Winkler's jewelry business. By 1913, advertisements identified his business as Charles Giese, That Exclusive Tailor, at 208 South Main Street. His advertisements emphasized fashionable clothing, skilled workmanship, and custom tailoring. Contemporary city directories also associate several other tailors with his establishment, suggesting an operation employing multiple skilled workers. Giese and his wife maintained a family home on Poplar Street, documented specifically as 625 Poplar Street in early twentieth-century city directories. Their household appears frequently in local records, including newspaper reports concerning their daughters and social gatherings. Giese died in Poplar Bluff on July 15, 1921, according to the genealogical information identified during this research. His widow Jonnie continued to be associated with the family residence at 625 Poplar Street in subsequent directories. City directories and later histories add further detail. The 1906 and 1908 Poplar Bluff directories list C. W. Giese under Tailors at 415 Fourth Street, and the 1909-1910 Dunham directory again places him at 415 South Fourth Street, with the family residing at 625 Poplar Street. A 1911 directory records Charles Giese at 415 South Fourth. An early promotional account of the city states that Giese came to Poplar Bluff in January 1882 with Frank Gierse and that the two established the city's first merchant tailoring firm; in May 1883 Gierse's interest was purchased by Henry C. Cole, and the business continued as Giese & Cole, merchant tailors and dealers in gents' furnishing goods at the corner of Fourth and Maple Streets, offering made-to-order clothing, cleaning, and repairing. Goodspeed's History of Southeast Missouri likewise identifies him as a merchant tailor in Poplar Bluff.

Businesses Connected to This Site

Charles Giese — Merchant Tailor

Charles Giese — Merchant Tailor

Active c. 1884–1919 (documented; closing date not established)

Charles Giese operated one of Poplar Bluff's longstanding merchant-tailoring establishments during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, specializing in custom-made clothing, fashionable suitings, and the craftsmanship associated with the traditional tailoring trade. An 1898 newspaper advertisement identified Giese as the oldest merchant tailor in Poplar Bluff, indicating that he was already well established in the community. By October 1909, a newspaper account credited him with approximately twenty-five years in business, placing the likely beginning of his Poplar Bluff career around 1884. Giese's early establishment stood on Fourth Street, later documented at 415 South Fourth Street. Contemporary advertisements promoted new shipments of fall and winter suitings, emphasizing fine materials, fashionable styles, and individually tailored garments. In September 1912, Giese relocated to 208 South Main Street, occupying a renovated storefront formerly associated with jeweler August Winkler. The move placed the business on one of Poplar Bluff's principal commercial streets. A large advertisement published September 2, 1913, promoted Giese as "That Exclusive Tailor." It emphasized custom workmanship, distinctive clothing materials, and the employment of skilled union workers, inviting customers to visit the establishment, inspect the fabrics, and commission suits made to their individual requirements. In addition to custom tailoring, city directories listed the business under clothing cleaning and pressing. The 1914 directory confirmed the establishment at 208 South Main Street, while the 1919 directory continued to list Charles Giese among local cleaning and pressing businesses. Period photographs preserved in Walter H. Kennedy's souvenir publications depict a storefront identified with Charles Giese's tailoring business, providing a rare visual record of the establishment and its workers. The storefront has not been matched to a specific address. Giese died in 1921. The precise date on which his tailoring establishment ceased operating has not yet been established. Historical significance: The establishment represents Poplar Bluff's traditional merchant-tailoring industry during a period when professionally made clothing remained an important part of downtown commerce, and its advertising documents changing fashions, the importance of skilled labor, and competition among clothing merchants in the growing city. The business is also historically notable because another tailor and cleaner, Charles Gierse, established a separate business in Poplar Bluff in 1914; their nearly identical names and overlapping services present an unusual challenge in identifying early twentieth-century business records. Other tailors appear in period accounts in connection with the establishment — Sullivan A. Belew, Frank R. Eichler, George W. Murphy, and Charles E. Petree — though their employment dates and roles have not yet been verified against their respective directory entries.

Quick Facts

Era

1910s

Area

Residential District

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