Vogel's & Foster's

Vogel's and Foster's. A 19th Century Department Store Founded by Harmon S. Holmes. , The legacy of Vogel's and Foster's began 130 years ago with the successful entrepreneurship of Harmon S. Holmes. He arrived in Chelsea in 1872 at age 17 to work for and eventually partner with Thomas Wilkinson in his dry goods store. Throughout his active career, 1872 to 1914, Holmes was involved with many prosperous local businesses in Chelsea. He sold general merchandise, clothing, hardware, furniture, farm implements, lumber and produce. He later became involved in what was to become Chelsea Milling Co., a lasting venture handed down through four generations. , , Holmes, along with his partners, were the first tenants of these two Commercial Victorian style buildings. The first building was built by local builders Maroney and Monroe in 1876 for local business merchant David Thomas. A year later 107 was built on the site of a previous wood structure destroyed by fire. Orange Stone did the masonry work and the firm of Negus and White furnished the lumber and did the joiner work. L. D. Grosvenor of Jackson was the architect. , , By 1887 Holmes owned both structures, and remodeled them to function as one store by removing two front interior staircases, and adding an interior archway. In 1911 a water fountain was added at the archway which is in use today. He installed an 1880's state of the art "Lamson Cash Carrier" system ensuring proper accounting at the registers. It utilized a basket on a cable pulley to take cash from the sales counters to the bookkeeping offices in the back of the building. In the late 1890s, Holmes installed acetylene gas lighting for the interior which provided as much as 15 times more light than ordinary gas lights at the time. , , Originally, the north building housed dry goods and groceries, while the south building had men's and women's apparel for sale with tailoring services offered in a separate department. Cloaks, carpets and shoes were sold upstairs on the second floor sharing space with various millinery establishments and doctor's offices through the years. Renowned Chelsea photographer, E.E. Shaver, had his photograph gallery towards the rear of the building on the second floor. , , In 1885, Holmes took in a new partner, W. J. Dancer, to form H. S. Holmes and Co., and expanded his operations to other towns including Stockbridge and Northville. In 1893 he promoted E. R. Dancer, Ed Vogel, and Dallas Wurster as officers to operate H. S. Holmes Mercantile Co. Holmes retired in 1914 and sold the business to Dallas Wurster and Ed Vogel in 1915 who renamed the store Vogel and Wurster. In time the all-purpose department store would specialize mainly in yard goods and clothing.