What was the name of the firm, or business, that occupied the premises at 717 Market St. circa 1906 after the 1906 earthquake & fire reconstruction to 1908, or thereabouts? I believe it was a Sportings/Firearms wholesaler/retailer of some type,as an advertisement in Everbody's Magazine in 1908 listed that address as the Pacific Coast Branch of Smith & Wesson, however Smith & Wesson factory archives do not identify any west coast branches, so it is assumed the location must have been a distributor who took it upon themselves to call their firm the Pacific Coast Branch of Smith & Wesson. Business directories or Business/Licensse Tax records have been researched, but no information there, as yet.

-- Edward F, Cornett (edwardfcornett@aol.com), November 22, 2004

Answers

In the 1920s and 1930s the building was known as the Kamm Co building. The building had multiple tenants including Hiles Watchmaking and Gross Bros Coat Manufacturing.

Good luck in your research.

-- Kurt Iversen (Iversenk@aol.com), November 22, 2004.

my 1907 SF Directory only confirms what Kurt wrote - that 717 Market St was the Kamm Building.

-- Mike Dempsey (mikede1087@aol.com), November 27, 2004.

Thank you Kurt & Mike. That's more info than I had before. I'll re check the Smith & Wesson archives to see if there's any mention of the Kamm Bldg as the location of one of their distributors. None of the City or County Dep'ts have any records going back that far, they tell me. Ed.

-- Edward F. Cornett (edwardfcornett@aol.com), November 29, 2004.

Review of S&W archives at Connecticutt Valley Historical Museum, Springfield, MA., started but no record yet of shipments to the 717 Market St. address, circa 1907-08 , however there are 1,000s of invoices to search through. Is the Kamm Bldg still there at that address, or has it been demolished & replaced?

-- Edward F. Cornett (edwardfcornett@aol.com), December 15, 2004.