City of Paris Dry Goods Co.: Difference between revisions

 

==Origins==

The store's history is rooted in the 1849 [[California Gold Rush]]. The company was founded by Felix and Emile Verdier in May 1850 <ref>Généalogie Verdier https://gw.geneanet.org/asimoneton_w?lang=en&m=N&v=VERDIER</ref> when Emile arrived in the [[Port of San Francisco|San Francisco Harbor]] on a chartered ship, the ''Ville de Paris'' (City of Paris), loaded with [[silk]]s, [[lace]]s, fine [[wine]]s, [[Champagne (wine)|champagne]], and [[Cognac (drink)|Cognac]]. Verdier brothers had previously owned a silk-stocking manufacturer in [[Nîmes]] and [[Paris]] in France. The citizens of San Francisco quickly surrounded the ship with rowboats and purchased all the goods without them ever being unloaded from the ship. Many purchases were made with bags of [[gold|gold dust]]. Emile Verdier quickly returned to France and loaded the ship bound for San Francisco arriving in 1851, where he opened a small waterfront store at 152 [[Kearney Street]] called the City of Paris. The store's [[Latin]] motto (''Fluctuat nec mergitur'', "It floats and never sinks") was borrowed from the city seal of Paris.

 

 

== Branches and offshoots==

| last = Bugbee

| first = Susan