Home » Travel » Washington State » Molly Cohen - Port Orchard Legendary Retailer

Molly Cohen - Port Orchard Legendary Retailer

© Jerri Brooker

Whenever I have extra money I always end up spending it at a bookstore. I'm a hopeless incurable when it comes to books - especially when a "written-from-the-heart" Washington State history book gains my attention. Molly, written by Molly's son, Jordan Cohen, is such a book. I think Molly's story befits International Women's Day on March 8. To you, Molly!

Molly Baumwohl stepped down from the Northern Pacific train in Seattle's Union Station in 1911, ready to make a new life for herself. Molly's parents had urged her to leave Dobra, Austria, with her siblings due to political unrest. She came to the States with a brother and two sisters. One had a physical condition that Molly helped hide so they could get through customs.

Sponsored by her aunt and uncle, Isaac and Tillie Schaps, she and her siblings started their new life when she was merely 14. Molly tried working in her uncle's factory, Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, in New York Ash building - but became quickly disinterested in toiling at such a job. She set out to Seattle for a new experience.

Once in Seattle she took a job as a maid and nanny, but was fired the first week for eating two of the owner's chocolates - she didn't even get her pay. She then hired on in a department store in the millinery department. She learned quickly, and with her accommodating, experienced demeanor she was soon a valuable employee. Her luscious dark brown eyes and olive skin could put anyone in a spell. In the rough and tumble Seattle landscape she was already holding her own.

Molly found a Jewish bakery, Lippman's Bakery, at 119 23rd Avenue that became home away from home where she could converse with others like herself when not working. The owners connected her with friends of her uncle's family, the Shapiros, who took her in as their own. They hoped she'd become a daughter-in-law.

The Shapiro's wish for a daughter-in-law didn't pan out, however. Molly had no intention of letting someone set her up. She moved into a Seattle boarding house to once more gain her independence.

On a day off she took the ferry from Seattle to Bremerton. She missed the outdoors, the sea, the trees and solitude of the forest. While walking downtown she noticed a small shop, The Toggery. It was closed, but the proprietor was in and stepped out the door to address her as she admired the display.

The copyright of the article Molly Cohen - Port Orchard Legendary Retailer in Washington State is owned by . Permission to republish Molly Cohen - Port Orchard Legendary Retailer in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.