If diamonds are a girl’s best friend, then Paule Jewelry beckoned many a man inside to fulfill his heartthrob’s dream.
For 107 years, silver and gold shimmered behind the glass of polished maple cases. Brides-to-be rode the elevator with their intended to the second floor to choose their china and sterling silver patterns. Tiny engraved silver spoons and cups commemorated the birth of a child. The gift of a gold watch signified a young man’s passage into adulthood.
Paule Jewelry was there for all of life’s special moments: birthdays, graduations, engagements, weddings, anniversaries, job promotions, and retirements. Stepping into the store, you entered a quiet world of dignity and class, giving the feeling that you were part of something special, and you were worthy of the finer things of life.
An advertisement for Paule Jewelry in The Burlington Hawk-Eye in July 1914 captured some of that feeling. In part, it read: “The jeweler is very close to life in all its variations. His art expresses and typifies victory, achievement, superior performance, as well as beauty, utility, joy, and refinement … Life’s heroic moments are marked with a jewel or a bit of gold or silver.”
The ad ended with the store’s motto of that time: “Our name on the box your guarantee.”
That Paule name never lost its significance. In later years, the motto was “Paule’s on the box is like sterling on silver.” Unwrapping a gift to see the diagonal silver and white stripes on the box with the “Paule Jewelry Co.” name and logo stamped in deep blue no doubt sent a shiver of delight through the recipient.
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Modest beginning
In 1889, Charles Christian Paule opened Paule Jewelry at 405 Jefferson St. with less than $500. A Burlington native, Paule (known as C.C.) had purchased the stock of jeweler August Stucke at that location. Paule started his career at age 19 as an apprentice watchmaker for Stucke, before moving to Chicago, then Kenosha, Wisconsin, and back to Chicago. Paule, by then about 26 years old, heard that Stucke was closing his business and seized the opportunity to go into business for himself. He kept at least one of Stucke’s employees on staff, Emil Baumle, who became secretary-treasurer when Paule incorporated the business.
Those early years may have been awfully lean. According to Paule’s obituary in The Burlington Hawk-Eye Gazette in 1943, the jeweler had just a small stock when he started, and a man named George Finck proved to be a savior. “George represented a big jewelry firm, and at Christmas time brought his trunks into the store, and the contents became Paule’s stock over the holiday period,” the newspaper stated.
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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