Remember the days when “dressing up” was the norm for daily attire? When men wore suits and ties and hats to work year-round, and every little boy had a suit to wear to church on Sunday? A “business casual” dress code would be seen as an abomination. Only laborers wore blue jeans, and sweatpants were strictly for athletes for pregame warm-ups.
The newspaper advertisements for the nearly 50 years of Riepe-Peterson Clothing Co. provide a window into a time when men strove to look like gentlemen, sophisticated and dapper, even sexy, in a well-tailored Hart Schaffner & Marx suit topped with a Royal Stetson Playboy hat.
Sure, by the time Riepe-Peterson closed in 1982, menswear fashions were becoming more casual. But even then, stepping into the store at 315 Jefferson St. made a man, young or old, stand a little taller, for he recognized he was entering a place that had class.
Partners Walter H. Riepe and Walter O. Peterson were exposed to well-heeled men and women at an early age, around 10 years. (Both Burlington natives, Riepe was born in 1884, and Peterson in 1892.) Each worked as a “bundle boy,” employed by local stores to carry packages for their customers who had stopped off the train or steamboat in Burlington to shop. Imagine the exposure that gave these young men to gentlemen and ladies. In a special newspaper section celebrating the 25th anniversary of Riepe-Peterson in 1958, Peterson explained to reporter Lloyd Maffitt of The Hawk-Eye Gazette that aspiring clothing salesmen had to serve these apprenticeships.
“Several trains came into Burlington in the morning and left in the afternoon,” Peterson said. “Packet boats, five or seven of them, arrived two or three times a week. They, too, left for New Boston or Nauvoo or wherever in the afternoon. The people who came in on them would come to the clothing store, make their purchases, and go on about their business. It was up to the bundle boys—Eddie Nelson, Tom Holmquist, and me—to be at the railroad station or the Diamond Joe boathouse with their parcels for them to pick up as they left.
“We also did a lot of delivering, and that was after hours and on our own. If we didn’t have the money for streetcar fare, we walked. I well remember walking to and from Crapo Park on various occasions, delivering packages to the late Fred Schneider.”
Young Peterson got a good stretch of the legs on those jaunts. From Eisfeld Clothing at 307 Jefferson St., where Peterson apprenticed, to Crapo Park was a good three-mile hike.
Did you enjoy this excerpt from “Beloved Burlington: Featuring businesses you knew and loved?”
The book, which contains chapters on 10 other businesses and many historical photos, is available for $19.99 at Burlington By The Book, 301 Jefferson St., Burlington, Iowa and by mail order. For details, click here.
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