Maison Blanche Department Stores

On October 30, 1897, S.J. Shwartz, Gus Schullhoefer, and Hartwig D. Newman—with financial backing from banker Isidore Newman—opened the Maison Blanche at the corner of Canal Street and Rue Dauphine in New Orleans. Converting Shwartz's dry goods store into the city's first department store, the trio created a retail brand whose name lasted over a century. In 1908, Shwartz tore his store down and built what was the city's largest building—13 stories, with his Maison Blanche occupying the firs...