For these three companies, the only remnants are paper receipts dating to the turn of the last century, all found amazingly preserved in a Clinton Hill brownstone.
They don’t tell us much, but they provide a clue or two as to what daily life was like and what services were available.
Like that if you needed an ambulance, you had this horse-drawn carriage service to rely on to get you to the hospital.
I have no idea what anyone would need pure oxygen gas and calcium lights for, but this DUMBO supplier says they’re “for all occasions.”
Imagine the uproar if a gun store tried to open on Broadway and Duane Street today? But in 1897, this one sold “every variety.”
Ephemeral New York 