File:1895 - Anewalt Brothers 615 Hamilton Street - Store Interior - Trade Card.jpg

English: 1895 - Anewalt Brothers 615 Hamilton Street - Store Interior - Trade Card

Samuel B. Anewalt was born in Allen township, Northampton county, 3/20/1835, and attended the local schools until the age of 14, when he learned the trade of a painter, at which he spent two years and in 1857 came to Allentown and entered the employ of Coleman Keck, with whom he continued until the Civil War.

After his return Samuel Anewalt entered the hat business in 1869, forming a partnership with his brother, John C., under the firm name of S B. Anewalt. He had two sons, Lewis and William, who entered the business as clerks in the 1880s. When John Anewalt died in 1891, Lewis and William took over the family business under the name of the Anewalt Brothers. All three stores sold hats and later, furs. The 615 Hamilton Street store was distinguished in the memories of Allentonians by the presence of a large, white bear figure standing in front of the store. The 617 Hamilton Street store had a brown bear in front.

The Anewalt Brothers owned three different stores:

• Anewalt Brothers at 615 Hamilton Street (1891-1899)
• Lewis Anewalt at 617 Hamilton Street (1899-1918)
• S B. Anewalt on the Southeast Corner of 8th and Hamilton Streets (744 Hamilton) (1869-1908)

The store at 8th and Hamilton also served as the ticket office for the Lehigh Valley Traction Company for streetcar travel until it closed in 1908. The ticket office then moved across the street to the west side of South Eighth. When the 615 Hamilton Street store closed, the white bear was put into storage upstairs in Lewis' store at 617 Hamilton. William Anewalt died in 1899, however Lewis continued the business under the name of the Lewis L. Anewalt Company until his own death in 1918. At that time, the store and it merchandise were put up for sale and the business was closed.

Both the 617 and 615 stores were purchased by the Dobnoff family, which ran a women's clothing and dress store in the building for decades, A complete remodeling took place after World War II with a "Modernaire" front being built and the interiors redesigned into one large building. The store closed in 1976 and the store subsequently being torn down in 1977. Today, it is a grass lot owned by the City of Allentown next to the Soverign (Zollinger) Building on Hamilton Street. The fate of the bears is unknown.