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Iszard's Department Store photo
courtesy of Bill Cook
How great was Iszards? It was wonderful to watch the money for purchases go through the tubes to the office and your change come back in the same fashion. Then you could ride the Elevator or climb the steps. If you climbed the steps you could see the floor below for a while. To me that was cool. Not to mention my Uncle Jack Saunders was the boiler man and went to work at the crack of dawn to get the heat up in the store. A visit to the boiler room was really special. The best was "The Tea Room." Egg salad sandwich cut into triangles and a cup of tea. That was topped by a Hot Fudge Sundae. My Auntie Marg always wore a Hat and gloves to go shopping. When I was little we walked there from College Ave. Next door was Knapp's School of Music. Later years They lived of Partridge Street near the RR tracks and we walked across the Main Street bridge to shop. What wonderful memories. From Wendy K. Daly I was delighted to see your picture of Iszard's. S.F. Iszard was my great-grandfather, and I have many memories of going to "the store" for clothes shopping. My grandmother, Muriel Iszard Chamoulaud, had an office there and still lived in the family home (607 Euclid Ave.) where she and, later, my mom, Jeanne Marie Chamoulaud Kimmell, grew up. Since we lived first in Media, then in Cheyney, PA, traveling up to Elmira was always a big event. Mom nearly always took us up early on Friday mornings so we could arrive at the Iszard's Tea Room before their famous Graham Cracker Cream Pie was all gone. Before the store closed I remember nearly begging the Tea Room staff for the recipe, but it was a very closely guarded secret so I never got it. It was so sad to see the store close. It seems that at a time when Elmira was losing so much of it's industrial base, Iszard's started expanding, first in the mall in Big Flats, then in Ithaca. Grammy used to grumble that the store' buyers weren't "with it" when it came to choosing what sort of clothes Elmirans were likely to wear and that they were too expensive for most people. This must have been during the "hippy era." Gram was in her late 70's then. She lived to be 97. Anyway, that started Iszard's decline, but who's to say it wouldn't have happened regardless? My family and I were in Elmira last summer. We hadn't been there in about 15 years. What a shock to see it so empty! It's sad. I can recall as a kid that milk was delivered by horse and wagon even in the early sixties, plus I remember the beautiful elms that were so prevalent, lining so many streets. Thanks for your website. Wendy K. Daly |
In its heyday, Iszard's was the Macy's of the
Southern Tier. And when we were growing up in the forties and fifties,
Elmira had a thriving downtown supported by the income of thousands
of jobs in hundreds of work establishments. Water Street had TWO sides,
a north side AND a south side of the street. And there were businesses
clamoring for any space available along that bustling part of downtown.
