Vincennes, Indiana
Vincennes is a town in southern Indiana along the Wabash River just east of the Illinois border.
Founding Vincennes
Located along the Wabash River, Vincennes has a long and storied history, especially for a town its size. Historically Vincennes was occupied by Shawnee, Wabash, and Miami tribes at different points during the 1000 years of indigenous settlement. The first Europeans who arrived in the region were French traders and Vincennes quickly became part of the colony Illinois Country in New France. The first trading post in what is now Vincennes established in 1702 and primarily traded Buffalo hides, collecting over 13,000 in the first two years of operation. The town officially established in 1732 and was named for French officer François-Marie Bissot, Sieur de Vincennes. Much of the early settlers migrated down from the French territory of Canada. For much of the 18th century, Vincennes was the site of trade and conflict between indigenous tribes, French settlers, and the British army, who sought to capture the colony for themselves. The region was a particularly volatile region in the French-Indian war, after which France ceded it to England. Following this, residents in Vincennes constantly incited Native groups to attack incoming British settlers and traders in a bid to agitate against the Crown. This continued through the American Revolution when the residents of Vincennes eagerly enlisted to help in the fight against the British.
After the revolution, Vincennes became the capital of first the Illinois Territory and later the Indiana Territory. It was the longest serving territorial capital of the Great Lakes territories. By the end of the 18th century, Vincennes was a thriving city of 2,500 people.
Judah Arrives in Vincennes
The first known Jew to settle in Vincennes was Samuel Judah, who arrived in 1818. He was a prominent settler in Indiana, serving in the state legislature for two terms, from 1827 to 1829 and 1839-1841, and was Speaker of the Indiana House of Representatives during the 25th assembly from 1840-1841. Judah graduated from Queen's College (now Rutgers University) in 1816 and was admitted to the bar that same year. Upon his arrival in Vincennes, Judah founded a law firm in 1819, at which he remained as partner for his entire life. The law firm, now under the name Kolb Roellgen & Traylor LLP, still practices law in Vincennes to this day, 200+ years after its founding. While living in Vincennes, Judah met and married Harriet Brandon, with whom he had 10 children (though only 6 survived to adulthood). In between his two terms as state legislature, Judah served as the US attorney for Indiana.
The Jewish History of Gimbels
The famed merchant Adam Gimbel arrived in the United States from Bavaria in 1835, where he quickly embarked on a career as a peddler along the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. After earning enough to start his own shop, Gimbel first arrived in Vincennes in 1842. At the time, Vincennes was still a bustling frontier city and Gimbel sold out his entire inventory in the matter of a single week. Having such quick success convinced Gimbel to stay in Vincennes and open a store. He initially rented a room from a local dentist, but quickly made enough to open a store of his own, Palace of Trade. Gimbel's store sold all kinds of general merchandise including nails, gunpowder, harnesses, shawls, shoes, cloth, and pelts. One thing that set Gimbel apart was his refusal to negotiate prices, which had been a common practice at the time, and instead set standardized prices. This practice appealed to Native American patrons, as racist white shop owners typically charged them more during negotiations. Gimbel relied on his motto, "Fairness and Equality to All Patrons," when running his stores. Gimbel's siblings soon joined him in Vincennes, allowing him to expand his empire to four stores in the region, a wholesale liquor business, and a controlling interest in the American Bank of Vincennes. Gimbel also served as a member of the Vincennes city council from 1842 to 1866.
Gimbel married Fridolyn Kahn-Weiler in 1847, and the two of them had 14 children, 11 of whom survived into adulthood. All of their seven sons (Jacob, Ellis, Isaac, Charles, Louis, Daniel, and Benedict) worked in the family business, each running a branch of the Gimbel's empire.
Adam Gimbel left Vincennes in 1869, opening a store in Danville, Illinois. about 100 miles to the north. At the urging of his son Jacob, who moved a few years before, Gimbel moved his store to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where a large german population lived. Adam and Jacob purchased a four-story store at the corner of Wisconsin and Grand in downtown Milwaukee, and the store quickly became the largest dry goods vendor in Wisconsin, employing 40-75 salespeople and having its own elevator. The success in Milwaukee allowed Gimbel's other children to open up Gimbel Brothers department stores in Philadelphia, New York, and Pittsburgh between 1894 and 1925. In 1922, Gimbels became a publicly traded company, offering shares on the New York Stock Exchange. In the first half of the 20th century, Gimbels was one of the best-known department stores in America, partly due to its rivalry with Macy's and appearance in Miracle on 34th Street. The Gimbel family maintained a controlling interest in Gimbels until 1973, when Louisville-based firm Brown and Williamson purchased the company.
A Later Community
By the 1930s, enough Jews arrived in Vincennes (primarily from Poland) to organize Congregation Hovas Hochim. Services took place at various rented locations in the initial years before the congregation purchased a grocery store and renovated it into a synagogue. The congregation was relatively short-lived, ceasing by the 1960s as the Jewish community in Vincennes once again dwindled. Today, very little remnants of this community remain in Vincennes.