From the 1890s to the 1960s, grocers Middendorf & Rohrs operated a wholesale store out of this red-brick building at One Little West 12th Street.
The grocers are long-gone, of course, like the rest of the wholesale markets (including Gansevoort Market down the block) that once called this grimy stretch of Manhattan home.
But what a treat to see that the name of the place is still visible on the facade!
Hmm, could this Rohrs be the same Rohrs who opened the beloved (and recently shuttered) coffee emporium on the Upper East Side in 1896?
Tags: faded ads Meatpacking District, faded ads New York City, Gansevoort Street, Meatpacking District 19th century, Meatpacking District street, Middendorf & Rohrs, old signs in the Meatpacking District
Ephemeral New York 
September 22, 2014 at 10:26 am |
That area, where little W 12th. St., Gansevoort St. and 9th Ave. starts was a traffic free-for-all until the city installed barriers to create a cobble stone surfaced park, now used by fashion photographers, various bands and performers of all sorts. Get something from Pastis, on the corner of little W 12th. and 9th. Ave., hang out in the park and people watch!
September 22, 2014 at 2:52 pm |
I’ve got news for you, Pastis is no longer!
September 22, 2014 at 8:24 pm
Uh-oh. It’s been more than three years since I retired from the Limo business I owned and moved from NJ to NC, so I did not know Pastis folded! Incidentally, the gray, four story building immediately to the west of the red brick one has a medallion at the roof line with “MR” on it. This building was, I believe, purpose built for them in their grocery business.
September 22, 2014 at 11:37 am |
Any Kreplach?
September 25, 2014 at 5:30 pm |
My family’s insurance agent had his office in the back of the uptown Rohr’s. He gave out calendars each year, each day with a historical tidbit, some of which were pretty tendentious. “Lunatic Southerners seceded from Union” is an only slightly exaggerated example.
March 4, 2015 at 6:14 pm |
OMG — The Middendorf is Henry Middendorf, and he is my great, great uncle. He immigrated from Gross Mimmelage Germany in the 1850’s.