I always liked a good mystery unless, of course, I couldn't solve it. This may not be quite a mystery, however, but just a confusion.
The thing that confused me was the sharing of one address by several different buildings. Well, one I could understand. This was the address of my grandfather Meyer's home at 4213 Washington Ave. N. That is where he lived in a house built in the 1800s. The house was already a place of note, being called the William Campbell house, named thus for the man who owned all the property thereabouts and who platted the area and sold the property.
When grandfather was told that a theatre was to be built at that prime location, he was required to move his house up and over the hill to 4210 Aldrich. That was in 1912. From that point on, two places had the address of 4213 Washington Ave. As read in old newspapers, the theatre was to be built right there. But the building that actually appeared was a tailor shop called Johnson and Berg Merchant Tailors. It was right next door to Ames and Copeland Grocery store, which in 1913 became Charlie Blomquist's market. Where then, was the movie theatre that was supposed to be built there? Had grandfather been required to move his house for a tailor shop?
Let us find out then, a little bit about that tailor shop. The two men who owned it, Herman Johnson and John Berg, started their tailor business in the old Lyndale Hotel. In 1912 the hotel was razed for construction of an approach to the Camden Bridge. So we find them next doing their tailoring in a building at 4213 Washington Ave. N. where grandfather's house had stood.
Herman Johnson and wife, Matilda "Tillie" Nelson Johnson, were married in 1915 and lived in a small house with a screened porch in Camden. Herman was born and raised on a farm in Värmland, Sweden and taught himself to sew as a young boy. He emigrated from Sweden with his three brothers, Carl, Oshar and Adolf, early in the 20th Century. Adolf, who was called Bror - for brother- returned to Sweden.
Herman worked as a tailor in Camden for years. His partner, John Berg, did the fancy work. He was a buttonhole maker and because of his beautiful work he plied his trade on suits of all of Minneapolis' wealthy people.
Herman's wife, Tillie, was born in Minnesota of Swedish parents. Her mother ran one of the boarding houses that catered to young Swedish immigrants who flocked to Camden about the beginning of the 20th Century.
The Johnsons often played hosts to newcomers in the city. People would arrive at all hours from Sweden with Herman's name and address saying they were a friend of a friend of a fiend in Sweden. Then Herman and Tillie would put them up until they found work, which usually didn't take long. The joke between them was that they would go to bed at night not knowing if they would wake up next to some stranger in the morning. Herman Johnson and John Berg retired from the tailor business in 1949.
Meanwhile, I know the theatre was in business way before that. But where? Some say that the first moving picture house was started on the 4100 block of Washington Ave. in 1910, with a new location in 1914 and an addition in 1934. One ad gave the address in 1926 as 4215 Webber Parkway and another ad before that said 4217 Washington Ave. It was definitely confusing and no one seemed to know the real story.
Whether or not this is confusing to you, here is my take on it. I think some sort of a domino effect was taking place. It all started with the construction of the approach to the Camden Bridge in 1912. Because the approach project needed the right-of-way, the Lyndale Hotel at 4174 Washington Ave. had to go down. Razing the hotel left several businesses without a roof over their heads. Two of these, Johnson & Berg and Ames/Copeland grocers were displaced and scrambling to find new quarters. Johnson & Berg spied that empty lot where grandfather's house had been and Ames/Copeland grocers took the building to the left of it at 4211 Washington Ave.
There was no urgency for the theatre, which was established in the 4100 block, to move, so the business which needed to relocate the quickest got grandfather's lot. In its good time, in 1914, the theatre moved two lots to the right of Johnson & Berg Tailors. That was 4217 Washington Ave. It later expanded one lot to the left to 4215 Webber Parkway, which to add to the confusion, was renamed Webber Parkway from Washington Ave. in 1921. So that is my theory about those strange addresses, and whether or not correct, it's the best I could come up with.
Note: Excerpts taken from So Far Away in the World by Anne Gillespie Lewis, and thanks to Ron Manger of the Camden Historical Society for maps, photos and suggestions.