Elizabeth Cohen Nolan on the left, pictured with a child and another woman, circa 1910

Specialized retail stores like this one served the needs of city dwellers in the late 19th century. During the 1880s, a series of shops selling fancy goods, groceries, dry goods, and flour and feed occupied the building. In the mid-1890s, widow Elizabeth Cohen operated a millinery shop here, offering customers fashionable headwear while supporting her young family. Like other shopkeepers, Mrs. Cohen lived above her store.