| Louisiana Division/City Archives | New Orleans Public Library |
|
|
INTRODUCTION
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PREVIOUS
NEXT
Click on the images to magnify. Use your browser's back button to return to this page. |
| BERTHA POKORNY KAMIEN
Bertha Pokorny Kamien was one of seven children of Michael Pokorny, who came to New Orleans from Europe in 1860 and grew a modest shoe making shop into four profitable shoe stores, three on St. Charles Avenue and one on Royal Street. He also began to purchase property, especially along St. Charles Avenue. At his death in 1902 he had amassed a considerable commercial fortune, which was divided among his sons and daughters. In 1906, his two sons and his son-in-law, Benjamin Kamien, formed the Pokorny Real Estate Company. Soon joined by the remaining members of the family, the company’s shrewd real estate investments increased dramatically, estimated in the 1920s to be worth several millions. |
|
 |
Bertha Kamien capitalized on her inherited property and acquired real estate of her own downtown. In 1920, she purchased a building on the corner of Common and St. Charles for $122,000 after several other investors had turned down the seller’s offer, doubting that it would yield profitable rents. “It took a woman” the Times-Picayune wrote, “whose family has led in the development of the street [St. Charles Avenue], to step in and pay more than any of the realty investors were willing to risk. Events may show that she was wiser than they.” She leased the ground floor to the Liggett Drug store company, which, three years later, extended their lease for another fourteen years at $150,000. She went on in later years to purchase additional property downtown.
(Times-Picayune, August 21, 1920) |