BOTTOM ROW - Coffee Bin

Coffee Bin, 1870

Donor: Jane Duran, 2008

Bernhard L. Desenberg started a wholesale grocery business in Kalamazoo in 1857, after first working at Mannus Israel’s store. Israel opened his business in 1843 and was the first Jewish resident in Kalamazoo. Israel, along with the Desenberg and Rosenbaum families, organized the Congregation B’Nai Israel in 1867.

B. Desenberg & Co. was owned by Bernard L., Bernard M., and Meyer Desenberg, and was located at 115 and 121 Main Street in 1870, around the time this coffee bin was sold. The company continued to prosper, becoming a wholesale grocery business which eventually grew to be the largest in the city. To expand, they needed a new building, and, in 1886, the Desenburg Building, designed by Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan of Chicago, was erected on the corner of East Michigan Avenue and Edwards Street. 

The Daily Grind 

What are "dry goods?" The term was used in the 1800s to describe a variety of housewares, fabrics, and, most importantly, dry foods that could be transported and stored without refrigeration. These included dried beans, flours, and whole grains. Receipts and invoices from the time period reveal how items were sold--often by the barrel, by the pound, or by the inch! 

Lifting Spirits 

During the Civil War (1861-1865), coffee was used to lift the morale of the soldiers. Men on both sides had coffee in their daily rations. Consuming coffee cooked in kettles over open fires helped soldiers maintain alertness. After the war, men continued the habit of drinking coffee, and its popularity in America has only grown since this time.