Capital Loan Office
Merchant
1912-c.1915
1604 Main Street
Columbia, SC 29201
FAMILIES: Finkelstein
Born in Russia, Moe Finkelstein (1890-1930) was raised in Jacksonville, Florida where he worked for one of his five older brothers as a clerk. In 1912, he moved to Columbia, South Carolina to serve as the proprietor of a local branch of the Capital Loan Office. His brothers Neil, Harry, and Charles operated additional branches in Jacksonville, Asheville, and Wilmington respectively and maintained a partnership with another three pawn shops in Charlotte and Greensboro.
Located within the newly opened Manson Building (later the Peoples National Bank) on the 1600 block of Main Street, Columbia’s Capital Loan Office was one of multiple stores occupying the ground floor and decked with Indiana limestone and bronze window frames. For approximately three years, Moe operated the pawn shop there, advertising confidential loans and bargains on unredeemed jewelry.
Around 1915, Moe acquired an adjacent storefront and transitioned the business into a jewelry store in his own name. He retired from business in 1926 and died from a pulmonary hemorrhage at age forty.
Main Image: Moe Finkelstein, c. 1916. Reprinted from The Columbia Record, August 1916
Above Image: Photo of Peoples National Bank on the corner of Main and Taylor streets in 1950. Image courtesy of Russell Maxey Photograph Collection, Richland Library, Columbia, SC
Above Image: Advertisement for Columbia’s Capital Loan Office. Reprinted from The Columbia Record, December 20, 1912