Category:Lewis L Anewalt

Lewis L Anewalt was a Hatter and Furrier in Allentown, Pennsylvania. He was born on October 7th, 1861 in Allentown, gaining his early education in the Allentown schools. He opened the Lewis L Anewalt hat and fur store in April, 1908 at 617 Hamilton Street in Allentown after leaving his brothers, Charles L. and John A. Anewalt and their firm, Anewalt Brothers at 615 Hamilton. Anewalt started in the hat business in 1881 with his father, John C. Anewalt. In 1891 he and his brothers started the Anewalt Brothers firm. During its existence, the Lewis L Anewalt store had an adverting icon of a brown bear, of which a taxidermed bear was prominently placed on the sidewalk in front of the store's entrance. This differentiated from the white bear used by the Anewalt Brothers firm next door. Lewis Anewalt passed away suddenly on June 15th, 1918.

With his passing, the store was sold to a partnership of three of his employees, Henry H Fetterman, Harry E Keiser and Raymond W Weisenheimer. The business was renamed as Fetterman & Company, which opened in August 1918. Fetterman & Co. moved to 246 North Seventh Street in November, 1926, and went out of business in December, 1941.

The 617 Hamilton building was taken over by Bon Ton, a ladies' apparel store in September, 1926. Bon Ton moved to to 727 Hamilton in March, 1928 and was replaced by Dobnoffs, another women's apparel store. Dobnoffs. Dobnoffs was purchased by the Zollinger-Harned Department Store in April 1966 and the business was consolidated into Zolllingers, which went bankrupt in 1978. A series of short-lived businesses operated from the property until 1998 when it became vacant. The store was subsequently torn down in April, 2003 and is now a vacant lot

The fate of the brown bear which stood in front of the Lewis L Anewalt store is undermined.