Harry From’s Department Store

Harry From (1917-1993) was one of six children born to Lithuanian immigrants, Israel (1879-1935) and Bertha Kessler From (1879-1969). Harry grew up helping in the family store, I. From (later I. From & Son), and after his father passed away during his senior year of high school, worked with his older brother, Ellis (1909-2004), to manage the store. After serving in the US Army Air Corps. during World War II, he married North Carolinian Edith Small (1922-1970) in 1947 and established his own business, Harry From’s Department Store, on Main Street in Union the following year. There, he sold shoes and clothing to all members of the community, regardless of their race, and frequently repeated the mantra, “Money is not white or Black, it’s green.”¹ After Harry’s death in 1993, his family continued to manage the store until 2005.

1 I. Allan From, “The Froms of Union: Merchants on Main Street for 100 Years,” Jewish Historical Society of South Carolina 24, no. 2 (Fall 2019): 15.