E.M. Kahn & Co.

Main and Elm at Lamar, Dallas

Founder Emanuel Meyer Kahn, a Jewish immigrant from Alsace-Lorraine, France, founded the E.M. Kahn Company in Dallas in 1872. E.M. Kahn's was a retailer of classy (i.e. expensive) menswear, and thrived for 92 years as a family owned business. It was the oldest retail store in Dallas, as well as the first air-conditioned one. In 1969 the business was sold to Eagle Clothes, who through poor management and bad business practices eventually caused E.M. Kahn to declare bankruptcy. Eagle fell, too, soon after. For more on E.M. Kahn's demise see this post (a few paragraphs up from the bottom of the page).

Here's a photo from "Lost Dallas" of the E.M. Kahn store in the 1960s at the southeast corner of Elm and Lamar, across the street from where El Centro College is today (scroll down a bit to see).

The whole thread about E.M. Kahn at the Dallas History Phorum is pretty interesting.