J. W. Knapp Company Luggage Tag

2.4'' × 4''

$16.99

1/6

J. W. Knapp Company Luggage Tag

$16.99

	2.4'' × 4''
Width, in	2.40
Height, in	4.00
Depth, in	0.20

GhostCorp Apparel - resurrecting iconic corporate ghosts.

Carry a piece of Lansing retail history along on your travels with this J. W. Knapp Company luggage tag. The story began in 1893, when Joseph W. Knapp and Frank W. Jewett opened a dry-goods partnership in Albion. After moving to Lansing, the business became Knapp's and grew into a downtown landmark before expanding to regional shopping centers. For former shoppers, Michigan history enthusiasts, and collectors of department-store memorabilia, this tag recalls the journeys of a company woven into mid-Michigan life.

J. W. Knapp & Co., commonly known as Knapp's, was a department store chain based in Lansing, Michigan, serving mid-Michigan. In 1893, Joseph W. Knapp, a salesman from Hillsdale, opened a dry-goods, coat, and carpet store in Albion with Frank W. Jewett under the name Jewett & Knapp. By 1897, the store had moved to North Washington Avenue in Lansing. In 1908, Jewett and Knapp sold the business to Frank Lackey, who renamed it J. W. Knapp Company; Knapp continued to manage operations. The store moved that year to South Washington Street. A new downtown building at 300 South Washington opened in 1939, on the former Hotel Downey site, and the store grew to occupy a city block by the 1940s. In the 1950s, the company was sold to the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, alongside other mid-Michigan department store businesses. Knapp's added an East Lansing branch, then a Meridian Mall store in Okemos in 1969. Lansing Mall and Westwood Mall locations acquired from Wurzburg's followed in 1972. L.S. Good Co. bought the Mott Foundation divisions in 1970 and declared bankruptcy in 1980. The mall stores were sold to JCPenney; the downtown store had already closed. Its building later became office and mixed-use space.